SPIRIT WEEK

An old Colorado hotel with dark secrets and a brooding horror novelist as its caretaker make a properly atmospheric setting for a young filmmaker’s latest project.

Fresh from the cinematic escapades of Shark Summer (2021), teenage documentarian Elijah Jones arrives in Estes Park thinking he’s been invited to record a rare interview with famous recluse Jack Axworth—but he’s actually been summoned to make a biopic of the novelist, who has young-onset dementia. Once again, the footage Elijah ends up with tells more than the story he set out to make, as Axworth’s poignant reminiscences and increasingly erratic behavior become inextricably mixed with a portrait of a struggling town whose history and very survival center on the nearby Underlook Hotel, a closed-up resort haunted by tales of supernatural evil and slated for imminent demolition. Is there time to save it? The storyline struggles to advance through thickets of subplots and hints, but the Underlook’s deadline adds enough suspense to keep readers interested, and the hotel turns out to have hidden levels and treasures to be discovered when the action flags. Also, Marcks trots out such an engaging supporting cast, led by local teen engineering whiz Suzy Hess and including colorful characters like a ghost hunter with a truly creepy crow, that watching the ensemble in action is pleasurable enough. Finished art was not seen, but Elijah and another significant character present as Black in the otherwise White cast.

Stronger in character than plot but spooky in parts.