The Innkeepers : Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, Alison Bartlett, Jake Schlueter, Kelly McGillis, Thomas Mahoney, Sean Reid, John Speredakos, Michael Martin, Kurt Venghaus, Michael P. Castelli, Lena Dunham, George Riddle, Brenda Cooney, Ti West, Derek Curl, Peter Phok, Ti West, Larry Fessenden

At a time when the horror genre seems to consist solely of cheap jump scares and MacGyverish torture contraptions, writer-director-editor Ti West' s The House of the Devil proved a pleasant anomaly: a slow-building '70s throwback which understood that the process of getting spooked is at least half the fun.

The Innkeepers, West's follow-up, winningly continues the retro streak, doling out the murk and gloom by steadily escalating degrees, anchored by Sara Paxton' s wonderfully appealing mope of a lead performance.