Unreal Movie Review: Insidious

3 out of 5 stars

The Saw franchise spawned practically a decade’s worth of unnecessary sequels, and now Paranormal Activity is destined to do the same. Low budget horror has always been a golden goose, and these films are just our generation’s answer to Freddy and Jason.

But even with quality plunging downhill with a single concept repeated two, three or eight times, we shouldn’t lose sight that the original films in each of these franchises were actively pushing the medium into new territory, with Saw using visceral gore and complex, twisting plots and Paranormal Activity employing subtle realism that brought us back to our primal fear of things that go bump in the night.

I was very curious to see what it would look like when the minds behind these two franchises joined forces. James Wan, creator of Saw, directs Insidious, produced by Oren Peli, overmind of Paranormal Activity. The result? It’s less of a leap forward, and more of a look back to horror from decades past. As the violins blare over the title credits, the attempted throwback to Hitchcock is readily apparent.

Freddy Kruger much?

The film isn’t quite as low budget as either of the duo’s previous efforts, though it probably wasn’t insanely expensive to shoot in a total of two houses. But the extra cash was spent on some actors we actually recognize, which really does go a long way in terms of creating convincing characters. The film stars Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne as Jack and Renai Lambert, who must deal with their son’s recent inexplicable coma amidst a house filled with spooks.

The majority of the film echoes the Paranormal Activity films in a lot of ways. Strange sounds are heard on a baby monitor, doors mysteriously shut by themselves. Typical otherworldly mischievous fare. But soon the film grows tired of playing it cool, and goes full-fledged supernatural thriller with visible ghosts and demons lurking throughout the house.

Then there’s the now-typical scene where the amateur ghost hunters come to visit. It has a more prominent role than it did in Paranormal or The Orphanage or Drag Me to Hell, and presents a very scientific explanation for the strange occurrences, citing EMF readings, spectral light analysis, and astral projection.

Yes, this is happening.

There’s a particularly well orchestrated séance scene that has the lead ghost hunter relaying demon thoughts through a full-on gas mask, and it’s so ridiculous it actually works. Later, there’s a trip deep into the world of the phantasmal full of a few creations that are bound to haunt my dreams tonight.

But though there are admittedly good selections of scenes, the film as a whole often feels very disjointed. On moment, we’re scrambling for the exits to get away from the creepiest smiling dead family you’ve ever seen, and two minutes later, we’re laughing as a fist-fight unfolds with a demon who looks far too much like The Phantom Menace‘s Darth Maul to be taken seriously. Did no one really see that during the design process?

The lead roles are also the same as they were in Paranormal, with the terrified wife pleading with her disbelieving husband about the evil presence that lurks within the walls. Without the gimmick of the single night vision camera, we’re able to see a movie not relying on any recent genre trends, and instead harkening back to what it means to be a true horror film.

Between Hard Candy, Little Children , Watchmen and this, I’ve accidentally watched way too many Patrick Wilson movies lately.

Far and away, the star of Insidious is its terrifying soundtrack, which transforms even the most mundane actions into edge-of-your-seat moments. Composer Joseph Bishara is the reason there’s ever a tense second in the film, and I stand by my statement that the scariest moments are when the title “Insidious” appears onscreen at the beginning and end, accompanied by a chorus of instruments that sounds like they’re being played by the tortured souls of the damned. In a good way.

I want to take a brief aside here to address something that for the love of god horror movies need to stop relying on. Without giving anything specific away, I understand that it can be tough to end a movie like this, but pulling the old “everything is fine, but then at the last possible second the defeated ghost/demon/monster/masked killer reveals itself once against and the screen cuts to black” is really getting old. It was a good trick the first few times, but it’s been used so much that it’s almost expected at this point, so when employed for the fifty fourth time, it’s lost its desired effect.

A third of Insidious is pretty original, but the bulk of it does feel pretty pulled from Peli’s Paranormal, and a dozen other haunted house movies over the last few decades. I wish they’d spent a little more time on the astral plane, and a little less closing open doors, but in a genre that’s largely full of shit these days, these two innovators have come together to put forth a decent entry.

But please, no sequels.

3 out of 5 stars

 

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2 Comments

  1. I love that you mentioned the Darth Maul-esque demon. When I paused on the trailer to it’s face, I couldn’t stop laughing. Thank you for validating my exact words when I saw it. “Hey look, it’s Darth Maul!! Where’s Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon when you need them?”

  2. I think you have the ending wrong. The ending requires thought. If you look at the color setting and the setting of the house and relate it back to the part where Josh goes into the first house to find his son in the Further, you should realize that there is a little bit more to. Especially look at the part where renai looks at the camera photo and what happens immediately afterwards. After that, then you can make your judgement about the ending. Also think about how the demon controlled Josh reacts to elice after realizing he is possed and when he says “I’m right here” and touches renai’s shoulder. The different tones indicate two different personalities or two different people, which causes you to think more about it.

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