Insidious Movie Review: Will It Lure You In?

Insidious is the tale of an unlucky family whose misfortune with the paranormal world becomes inherited from generation to generation. Or so it would eventually seem. The movie was directed by James Wan and written by Leigh Whannell, who are better known to most people as the creators of the very first Saw movie. The unexpected success of the film lead to a series of six sequels and one of the top all-time grossing horror movie franchises to date. Being the huge horror fan that I am, especially Saw, I couldn’t wait for the release of Insidious. Not that it could be compared to Saw in any way but when you’re blown away by the creative thinking of certain filmmakers and artists you tend to want to see what else they’re capable of.

The storyline basically revolves around parents Renai (Rose Byrne) and Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson) and their son, Dalton (Ty Simpkins). When one day Dalton doesn’t awaken from a night’s sleep, more strange entities begin surfacing to terrorize the family. Eventually, the services of psychic and paranormal investigator Elise (Lin Shaye) are called in to help the Lamberts understand why their family has become the target of unrelenting spirits.

Right away, the opening sequences of Insidious initially lead me to think that the movie was going to be either an homage or an allusion to some classic style horror films (a little bit of graininess and a whole lot of screechy violins!) but that was quickly dismissed with some of the eerie scenes that followed. Different ideas scare different people. To some, the thought of someone going crazy and butchering the townspeople in a bloody rage defines onscreen terror while others, myself included, aren’t too affected. It’s just good old entertainment. That sounds terrible but it’s true. So, for some of us, we need a little more to provoke a scare and the paranormal route can sometimes be a good path to try. There’s nothing creepier than checking on your crying child, as Renai did in Insidious, just to be greeted by a ghostly apparition hiding in the room. That’ll ruin your day. So will the presence of the “man with fire on his face” constantly trying to steal your son’s soul. Who needs that? Many of the scenes honestly gave me goose bumps. There were a few shriekers in the audience the night I went to see the movie and I’m pretty sure they had some goose bumps as well.

One of the best things about this movie is the fact that it jumped right into the plot without frittering away the viewers’ time with unnecessary details. It didn’t go on for forty-five minutes with all kinds of build-up and no action. I love when a horror flick gets right to the meat of the story! Another great thing about Insidious: whenever the suspense did build up, it always delivered. You can only watch characters in a movie slowly open a door just to find the family cat jump out so many times. It’s exhausting and predictable. In Insidious, there were more sinister ghouls around every corner than be counted which was so fun and satisfying to see.  Insidious is a few parts paranormal with a dash of some demonology and even a little comedy thrown in. It gives a good legitimate scare even to the most seasoned and fearless horror junkies and I’m a fan.

Images courtesy of FilmDistrict.