New DVDs from three local filmmakers

West, 31, a graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York, has over the last six years established himself as one of the leading lights of genre filmmaking with dark, minimalist creepfests such as Trigger Man and The House of the Devil.

Released on DVD and Blu-ray by Dark Sky Films ( http://www.darkskyfilms.com/), The Innkeepers is a meticulously paced, character-driven mystery about two twentysomething hotel clerks stuck on the night shift at a virtually deserted small-town inn during its last days in business.

A self-styled paranormal investigator, Luke (Pat Healy), tries to use his mostly faked ghost-hunter resum to woo coworker Claire (Sara Paxton), and he persuades her to use their last nights together to find the ghost rumored to have been haunting the inn for decades.

Their oddball relationship, off-the-wall banter, and amateur detective work are interrupted when an embittered, aging actress-turned-psychic (Kelly McGillis) checks in for the night. McGillis wicked, sharp-witted performance as the dipsomaniac ghost whisperer is the highlight of the film.

West said he felt blessed to get McGillis, who channeled some of her own experiences as a onetime sex symbol forgotten by many of Hollywoods young power brokers. "What I realized was that older actresses dont have a sense of humor about being older," said West. "People would get offended when I told them who they were playing."

West met McGillis on Skype. "She just stared at me [in character] and smoked and blew smoke into the computer camera," he said. "She just had this great self-deprecating sense of humor."

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New DVDs from three local filmmakers