Insidious

Haunted houses and questionable children have composed many a horror film, but there's a reason they work. When they do so despite years of being recycled, it's usually thanks to talent. "Saw" director James Wan found something of promise in "Saw" writer Leigh Whannell's story "Insidious" and the same must've gone for stars Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson. Horror films rarely get that infusion of talent, and as such, "Insidious" does not get lost in that dark dimension of forgettable horror.

Josh (Wilson) and Renai (Byrne) Lambert have moved into a new home with their two young boys and infant girl. Like always, paranormal oddities occur in small doses here and there until one morning they find their son Dalton in a coma. A few months pass and they move Dalton back home. The freaky incidences increase and eventually Renai sees the ghosts. She convinces Josh to move them into a new home, but it gets worse, so they bring in a paranormal expert (Lin Shaye) who provides them with some shocking revelations about the state of their son.

Like "Paranormal Activity" (a film thats producers have credits on this film unsurprisingly), the idea is to mount tension through paranormal phenomena and expert suspense. Wan provides a number of perfect angles and color to achieve the various moods. As much as you've been spooked this way by films before, you can't simply shirk the way the film creeps in — Wan won't have any of it. In fact, nothing here in terms of scare tactics will come as a revelation; many with a higher jumpiness tolerance will likely find it boring in many regards. No gore or horrific images to be found here — "Insidious" does it old school.

Once Shaye's character Elise and her two employees arrive on scene, the story mutates from paranormal suspense to other-worldly mystery. Elise explains what's going on — something that involves Dalton's soul being lost in a realm called The Further — and now they must rescue him. Whannell constructs an interesting mythology here and the story goes from horror to more of a mystery/thriller with demonic elements. In a sense he borrows from science fiction in establishing the rules of what's going on. It's mostly interesting, but in many instances flat-out weird to the point that horror purists might not like it.

The best way to describe "Insidious" is first half "Paranormal Activity" and second half something akin to Sam Raimi's "Drag Me To Hell," which equates to a nice balance between self-seriousness and horror fun. The "X" factor would be the performances. Byrne keeps Renai from becoming an obnoxious scaredy cat as her role's importance dwindles in the latter half of the film, in which time she still keeps Renai relevant. Wilson's character is no typical over- macho father figure or anything. Together they provide an unusual boost for horror, which typically strives for random faces with questionable experience.

In general, "Insidious" possesses a professionalism not often seen in the genre; most horror films go for cheap across the board from the budget to the talent to the thrills. Although "Insidious" lacks distinctiveness in terms of story, not an ounce of it can be perceived as immature or hollow. What a rare (but not unusual) treat.

~Steven C

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*** out of (****)

Judging by the anticlimactic advertisements you'd think, just why? There's an evil child film almost every year, and what separates one from the rest? You have every right to think so, but not with "Insidious". Trust me when I say it. "Insidious" is an entirely different beast. One that actually resonates with scares and intrigue. One that relies on character development, and a script to hold it together. This isn't a one trick pony, it's a well made film with some solid production values thrown in as a bonus. If you don't have a film to see this weekend, make sure you make it this one.

"Insidious" revolves around the perfect couple. Beautiful kids. A new home. It's all smooth sailing until Dalton is in a supposed "coma", but the actual reality is that he's haunted. What will Dalton's family do to stop this entity?

First of all, many complain that the second act bogs down the film and is inferior to its first half. I wholeheartedly disagree. I think as a whole the film is just fine. Yes, there's a drastic tonal shift mid-way, but that doesn't detract from the experience. The first half plays a typical haunted house flick, except it's actually scary, and the suspense is well built. Then the second half is like a cross between "Poltergeist", "House of Wax", and a little of "Beetlejuice" sprinkled in for good measure.

Furthermore, the performances while nothing to write home about, are pretty decent to say the least. The two leading protagonists do their job and Dalton is pretty solid given what he had to work with. Moreover, the script is very inventive, and has multiple twists and turns. Yes, this isn't the most unique screenplay, but it still stands on its own, and is actually quite effective.

To top it off, the production is just very beautiful. This movie is very easy on the eyes when it comes to cinematography and location. Now the question everyone is dying to hear. Is it scary? I'd say yes, but don't get too carried away. If you walk in thinking your going to have nightmares, or if you're going to see Rosie O' Donnell, chances are you'll be a little disappointed. However, if you're going in expecting a creepy thriller that just happens to have a few intense moments, you'll be in for a fun night out. Also, I love the nostalgic factor this movie has. It feels as though it was made in the 80's. Old school horror strikes back!

With a restraint heavy PG-13 rating, and a middle-of-the-road concept, "Insidious" isn't looking too pretty. However, looks can be deceiving. This is one movie that doesn't mess around, and doesn't play it safe either. I can easily say I will be revisiting this film from time to time just because it's so fun. You'll laugh, you'll jump, you'll be entertained. This is what a fun night out should be like. Get your large popcorn and soda, and sit along with the crowd. Be prepared for a good time.

Insidious is totally in my list of favourite horror movie. I will not say that this will be the greatest horror movie ever but the cinematography is great and makes the whole mundane plot seems interesting and manage to crap the hell out of me.

I hate it when some so-called horror movies use old cheap tricks like the creepy music or sound effects to compensate their poor performance. I watched many scary movies and Insidious is the one that really made it sound and seems so real that it allows audience relate to it. I was expecting to see some people died in horrible way where their guts and bloods are everywhere and floor splashed with red tomato juices. You'll never have to see that kind of scene in here, they keep it as close as possible for you to relate in your real life and in your room while you are struggling to sleep.

When I first saw a preview for this movie, I knew it looked like it had potential. It had been a while since I saw a decent scary movie so I was looking forward to it. I went into it expecting some scares but nothing too bad. Wrong. This movie scared me out of my wits. I don't think I have ever jumped more during any other scary movie. The audience was spooked too. I saw many other people jumping out of their seats and even heard a few actual screams.

What I loved about this movie was that it actually tries to scare you, not gross you out. The images are frightening for sure. Insidious doesn't waste any time trying to creep you out. The scares already start with the opening credits. I sure was not expecting this to be one of the scariest movies i've seen but it lives up to that. That being said, I don't think I'd have the guts to see it again!

Insidious is the third film in my (reverse order) mini-marathon of James Wan horrors after Malignant (which I loved) and The Conjuring (which I hated). It starts off as basically the same film as the latter: Renai (Rose Byrne) and Josh (Patrick Wilson) are a young couple with small children that has recently moved into a new home, when one morning, their oldest son Dalton doesn't seem to wake up. Turns out he's in a "sort-of coma" (it's unlike anything the doctors have ever seen!). When other weird stuff starts to happen around the house (old-timey children running around, things moving around on their own, banging on doors at night etc.), Renai starts to become convinced that their new home is being haunted by malevolent presences. And unlike your average horror movie protagonists, the family doesn't ignore the obvious signs and actually moves houses. But when the problems don't stop after they have moved, they call in the help of two young ghostbusters and, later on, a psychic called Elise. Stop me if you've heard this before.

But this is where Insidious starts to diverge from The Conjuring (I know it was released before that film, but I watched them in reverse order). My biggest problem with The Conjuring was that it uses the "based on a true story" angle to legitimize its horrors. It tries very hard to claim its paranormal phenomena as being of this world, by using a "real life case" of "real life paranormal investigators" Ed and Lorraine Warren. And the more deadly serious it got in its treatment of the paranormal, the more ridiculous (and less scary) I found the whole thing to be. Insidious, on the other hand, makes no attempt to claim its supernatural presences as part of our world. An explanation for the strange occurrences that have been happening to the Lambert family is offered by Elise, in which esoteric phenomena like astral projection and out-of-body experiences are mentioned as well as another dimension occupied by spirits and demons ("The Further"). It's a very exposition-heavy few minutes and of course it's all silly nonsense, but at least it's original and fun and it firmly sets the film in its own fictional universe where we gladly suspend our disbelief and accept that anything can happen.

A detail that I liked is that we don't have to go through the tedious business of the protagonists doubting each other or the imminent danger itself. When Renai tells her husband that she can feel the evil presences in their new home, Josh is initially skeptic, but just a few minutes later (after a particularly eventful night) the family are seen moving houses. Again when Elise explains her theory about Dalton being trapped in the Further: Josh's (very normal) first reaction is to call her out for being dangerous and exploitative (as one would), but after being confronted with a piece of evidence (one of his son's drawings that is a bit too specific to ignore) he is quickly persuaded.

Ultimately, Insidious' main goal is to scare the bejesus out of you and it absolutely achieves that. From the opening credits scene (which I really liked) the filmmakers do a good job of establishing a creeping sense of dread that slowly gets under your skin, balanced with some more classical jump scares. While I rolled my eyes at the abundance of clichés in The Conjuring, even these more "traditional" scares in Insidious just worked for me. Then there's the intense finale, which may run just a bit too long, but is extremely unnerving anyway. The whole set piece inside the Further is a beautifully realized nightmare, with some seriously creepy imagery that gives this dark realm an appropriately surreal feel.

In summary, Insidious is an entertaining horror film by James Wan that doesn't reinvent the genre, but offers an original twist on the classic haunted house story. It does a good job of building its own world, while maintaining a tense atmosphere throughout and sporadically making you jump out of your seat. The film thankfully avoids annoying horror movie clichés to extend its plot, like the protagonists who are oblivious to the dangers around them. Finally, there's a satisfying (if slightly overlong) climax, in which some indelible images are exhibited that'll be burned into my retinas for some time to come. Overall, I'd still rate Malignant higher: that film just went completely balls to the wall, which made it ridiculously enjoyable to me. And although this film certainly doesn't look bad, the cinematography of the former was even better in my opinion. But I definitely liked Insidious a whole lot better than The Conjuring, which was completely unoriginal, took itself way too seriously and didn't manage to entertain or scare me at all.