The production company behind Insidious has been shoving this movie down our throats for months now, teasing us and tempting us with some of the best horror trailers I have seen in a while. If nothing else the buzz is going to put people in theater seats this weekend, and there will be plenty of clashing opinions on the quality of this movie.
I’m pretty biased when it comes to scary movies. If it doesn’t make me want to sleep with the lights on in the fetal position for a week, I usually give it a big fat thumbs down. However, horror is in the eye of the beholder and the debate over what makes a good scary movie is constantly up for debate by critics and film buffs. On my personal scare meter though, I’ll give Insidious a 6 since I’m feeling generous tonight.
I don’t like to give too much away when I see movies, because regardless of what I think about it, if it’s a film you’re interested in seeing you should definitely support the arts and go see it. So to give you an idea of what this movie is about, I’ll give you as spoiler free of a synopsis as I can.
This flick follows the Lambert family, which is made up of mom Renai (Rose Byrne), dad Josh (Patrick Wilson), and kids Dalton (Ty Simpkins), Foster (Andrew Astor), and baby Callie, as they settle into their new dream home. As with most haunted house stories, strange things begin happening mostly to Renai since she is working from home as a songwriter and mom. Things being moved, strange voices, scared kids, misplaced items, the whole nine. It’s not until Dalton falls into a strange coma following and accident in the attic that they begin to really worry about the safety of their family. The intensity of the activity begins to kick up, and when Renai is attacked by an entity they decide it’s time to move.
Upon trying once again to settle into a new home, Renai begins noticing the activity seems to have followed them and seeks help for her family. Upon the recommendation of Josh’s mother, they call in psychic medium Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) and her team of investigators (the only comic relief in the entire movie, played by Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson) to help as they dig up secrets from their past and discover what is really happening to this family.
It’s at about this point that things start to go down hill a little bit for me. There were plenty of moments in the first half of the movie that had me averting my eyes a few times, but as it goes with most hyped up horror films, it took a sharp turn downhill. As they begin to explain what happened to Dalton and why he is in a coma, I found myself literally screaming “Really?!” at the screen (it’s a good thing I went to an earlier showing and my theater was pretty empty).
I tend to hold the opinion with horror movies that less is more. The less you have to explain and the less you show the scary bits the more the movie is going to screw with someone’s head. Scenes that have you hanging on the edge of your seat that require little to no special effects are far more scary than expensive CGI and makeup. This is what I thought I would have gotten with Insidious, since it’s heavily advertised as being from the teams that made Saw and Paranormal Activity, two of the very few horror movies I think have gotten the formula right. Directed by James Wan and written by Leigh Whannell (yep, he has a part in the movie, too) they are the master minds behind Saw (though I only give credit to the first movie, and maybe the second, but they lost me when they started putting out a Saw film almost every year. Less is more, remember?) and they teamed up with the producers of Paranormal Activity and its sequel for this film. It has all the makings to be fantastic.
Nothing was explained in Saw until the last 2 minutes of the movie, and hardly anything got explained in Paranormal Activity (though they tried to make up for this in Paranormal Activity 2, which I thought was stretching it a little). I had hoped for this kind of psychological mind game with Insidious, but was sorely let down as they tried to explain TOO much in the final hour of the film and it kind of made the climax anti-climactic for me. But, this is just my opinion and as stated before, I’m really harsh with horror films. Some people really like to have everything laid out for them so that they can walk away from a film and not feel like they will come home to ghosts, while others (like me) want to be checking over my shoulder on the way to the car.
On the up side, it did have its moments. It doesn’t matter how stupid a movie is, if something pops out at you and makes a loud noise you are going to jump. There were plenty of screams, unexpected bangs, and ominous music to have you on the edge of your seat for most of the film (the opening and closing title were a little too much, even for me), and there were some good plot twists in there too, especially at the end (which is what these guys are good at, and I will give them that). So all in all, if you’re looking for a movie that will make you jump a few times but not have to think too hard at the end of the night, then Insidious was an ok movie you will probably enjoy. I don’t think it lived up to the hype as much as I had hoped, but it definitely wasn’t a terrible way to spend a Friday night.
What did you guys think of Insidious? Was it scary enough for you or did it leave you craving more as it did for me? Let us know what you thought of this movie in our comment section below, and check out the trailer for Insidious right here if you need a refresher on this film, as well as a clip from the movie!
Photos: www.wenn.com/Jody Cortes/Joseph Marzullo