Insidious Review

Insidious gives a good strong effort, but buckles in the last act with an ill attempt at explaining the supernatural goings-on. Directed by James Wan of Saw and Paranormal Activity fame, Insidious attempts to break the mold so many horror movies find themselves falling into, but instead trips up and merely delivers a few fantastic jump scares and a eerie atmosphere that never really settles on either side of the fence of truly horrifying or campy fun.

As previously noted, Insidious tries to mix up familiar horror tropes by giving us a haunting situation that isn't limited to any house, so when the increasingly terrorized family ups and moves, the evil just follows them. Its a great and dubiously simple twist, but the inescapable nature of the threat really adds to the tension. The scares come fairly obviously with long single takes that can only end in a loud piano strike, or a simple mundane activity that urges you to clench your fist awaiting the inevitable creepy music or maniacal whispering. Its all a bit rote but nevertheless when it goes for a scare it succeeds.

The last 45 minutes or so are what bring this movie to a screeching halt. Someone during the production of this film thought it was a good idea that they explain why our heroes are experiencing hallucinations and why their oldest son has fallen into an endless sleep. The family hires a team of what amount to ghost hunters, and after a quick inspection find that their son has been lost to the "Further" a dimension where tortured souls lay in wait; to get their son back the father-played by Patrick Wilson-needs to traverse into this dimension and fight off the demons and ghosts to save his son. The last act seems like it must have been written by somebody else since it doesn't meld with the tone and suspense of the rest of the movie. It doesn't help that the films measly million dollar budget doesn't allow for better effects, and so our journey through the "Further" is nothing more than the same locations you have seen up to that point in the film spruced up with the help of a fog machine.

Insidious could have been a film that buried under your skin and swam around in the back of your head, subconsciously eating at your dreams for weeks to come, but the disjointed final act and an ill conceived notion to explain away the mysteries softens its impact. Insidious does provide some great scares and a chillingly tone, but it unfortunately only serves as a hard reminder that Hollywood even when approaching something with the best intentions, always seems to trip up in the delivery.

(3 out of 5)