In 2011, James Wan’s “Insidious” was released widely to the public. It told of a family whose son enters a comatose state and the family is targeted by a demonic entity. As they call up a team of paranormal investigators, they soon figure out the origins of this entity and the family’s connection with another spirit of their past. Much to my surprise, the film turned out to be a pretty good haunted house flick that really felt fresh to the eyes, despite it having some jump-scares. While it did have elements of other horror films like “Poltergeist,” “Paranormal Activity,” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” the film manages to make those elements feel fresh to the eyes and show James Wan’s directing improve.
However, the same can’t be said for “Insidious Chapter 2.” Don’t get me wrong, the film does have some good things about it, like a few story elements and the plot synopsis does sound good to continue the story, but the execution didn’t do as well as it did with the first film. Nothing terrible, but not worthwhile.
As you’d expect, a third film has been brought into the mix last June. Did it turn out better than the last installment? No, not necessarily.
In this prequel to the first film, we have this father and daughter mourning over the loss of the family’s mother. After the daughter meets Elise in an attempt to talk to her mother, an unknown spirit corrupts the daughter’s soul, and it shows how Elise got together with the Paranormal Team.
While I do really like the concept and plot-line of this film, the weakest part is the execution of it. Instead of James Wan returning to direct, the helm was taken over by Leigh Whannell, long time collaborative writer/producer of Wan, who also plays Specs from the previous two movies. For his directing debut, it's not bad, as it does give off the same kind of atmosphere as the other two films, but it's not really that good either. It especially gets distracting when the film makes references to the first film, as if to say "I'm a prequel. NOTICE ME!"
As for the characters, they were hit or miss. Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell, and Angus Sampson, as Elise and the Paranormal team are good on their part much like they were in the first film. However, the rest of the characters are people I don't really care that much about. The daughter did have good interests in the film, but for the rest of it she's...kind of meh. I think part of that comes from Stefanie Scott's performance, where she looks to be trying, but feels disinterested in this film. The father, I couldn't give a fuck about him.
The biggest problem with this film, which is the same problem I had with the remake of "Poltergeist," is that it's not scary. There are bits and pieces of good atmosphere, but the rest of it is packed with jump scares that aren't executed as well as they were with the first film, and there were even bits in the final act of the film that felt downright silly. If you've seen the film, you'll know the bits I'm talking about: the stomping that causes a trap door effect, the part where Elise says "come at me, bitch" when encountering the woman in black from the first film, it's all out of place and ruins the tone.
Not much else to say except the film wasn't good. If you've liked all the films, good for you, more power to ya. Maybe I'm just the odd man out on this film, as a lot of other people seemed to have enjoyed it. Not me though.
Rating: 3/10
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