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The landscape for independent films has changed rapidly. On one hand, the opportunity to build a theatrical release has become increasingly difficult, but on the other hand, digital release has given indies a chance to play to a broad national audience at once. Each week, new indie releases will be profiled and because they might not be playing at a theater near you, one highly recommended film available now a click or two away via VOD (whether a new or not quite new release) will be presented for viewing without leaving your computer.

VOD Pick of the Week

The Innkeepers

If you can’t make it to The Conjuring this weekend but still want to get your haunted house fix, you can stay in your own hopefully unhaunted home and watch The Innkeepers. Well, it’s not exactly a haunted house in this case but a haunted hotel. It takes place at The Yankee Pedlar Inn, which is in its last weekend of operation before it closes down. The hotel is practically empty save for the two employees holding down the front desk, a woman who has left her husband and her son, and an actress who used to be on a popular sitcom who is now in town for a convention.

The hotel is rumored to be haunted by the ghost of Madeline O’Malley, a young bride who killed herself when she was left at the altar. The reputation is fine with the two employees, Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healy), who are amateur ghost hunters hoping to catch some evidence of paranormal activity before the hotel shuts down. The film has more in common with old fashioned horror as opposed to current day gore films, and there are obvious nods to The Shining with the empty hotel with a troubled past.

Writer/Director Ti West takes the slow burn approach with the understanding that it is often the anticipation that is scarier than the actual fright itself. The Innkeepers also functions ably as a low key slacker comedy. Claire and Luke are aimless, with little to no plan for the future. When the washed up actress asks Claire, “What do you do?” the simple question seems to completely stump her and creates a minor existential crisis. Their lives are not completely unlike the ghosts who are unable to move on and remain stuck in the same place.

The Innkeepers does nothing to reinvent the genre, and in fact operates more as an homage. Everything feels rather familiar, but effectively so. It is not so much a horror movie in fact as it is a ghost story complete with chapter titles. If you are looking for a way to beat the summer heat, The Innkeepers is sure to supply the chills.
Available at Amazon
Available at iTunes
Available at Vudu
Available at Netflix

New releases for July 19th

Act of Killing: There have been many (unfortunately necessary) documentaries about mass genocides, but The Act of Killing takes a decidedly different approach in exposing the mass murder that occurred when the government of Indonesia was overthrown by the military in 1965. Filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer invited some of the leaders of those death squads to re-enact their atrocities through the making of scenes in the style of the Hollywood movies they enjoyed so much. The process forces them to finally confront their actions because with the spoils of victory they have never been held accountable for them before.

Blackfish: It was shocking and tragic news in 2010 when whale trainer Dawn Brancheau was attacked and killed by an Orca named Tilikum, one of the park’s oldest residents. The documentary tells Tilikum’s story from his initial capture through his time in captivity first at Sealand of the Pacific and then at SeaWorld Orlando. Through interviews with former SeaWorld trainers, we get a unique view into the lives of these powerful animals as well as the controversial inner workings of SeaWorld.

Computer Chess: Computer Chess takes place at a weekend tournament for chess software programmers sometime in the 1980s. They have come together to pit their programs against each other with the winner receiving a prize and a chance to challenge a human opponent. This oddball comedy takes a look at a time when computers were just beginning to enter the mainstream but were still largely in the realm of nerd culture and at the nerds who helped pave the way for the world of today where computers are part of practically everything.

Girl Most Likely: While a supporting role in Bridesmaids turned Melissa McCarthy into a bankable comedy leading lady with two of the biggest comedies of the year, that film’s star and co-writer Kristen Wiig follows up that surprise megahit with a more modest film. In Girl Most Likely, Wiig plays a failed New York playwright who is forced to move back home with her family in Jersey. In addition to her mother and brother, she has to deal with her mom’s new boyfriend and the strange young man sleeping in her old bedroom.

Only God Forgives: Director Nicolas Winding Refn teams up with his Drive star, Ryan Gosliing for the violent revenge film, Only God Forgives. Gosling plays Julian a successful drug smuggler and respected figure in Bangkok’s criminal underworld. When his brother is murdered, his mother forces him to find the killer and settle the score. What follows is a stylish and bloody trail with a high body count.
Available at Vudu