Insidious (2011) Review

   It’s always hard to get a solid horror film. Of course they’re cheap to make and usually are guaranteed in box office returns. Lots of them nowadays simply rely on gore and CGI. That’s not the case for Insidious. It builds the suspense on piano notes, screeching violins, shadowy figures, slamming doors, and the scariest thing of all Tiny Tim’s Tip Toe Through the Tulips. That song is the stuff of nightmares.

   The film is about a family, Josh, Renai, and their three children, moving into a new home. Everything seems fine until some spirits come and ruin everything for the family. Their son is knocked unconscious and becomes comatose. The frightened parents turn to a ghost hunting team and a psychic for help. They discover that a spirit is hell bent on possessing the boy. So they have to stop the spirit before their son’s soul is lost to “the further”.

   Insidious is probably one of the few films that go into detail about ghost hunting and the reasons behind why it occurs. It was extremely creative and you can tell that someone really put a lot of thought into the mythology behind it. I don’t know why, but every time I watch the film I am reminded of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. Probably because of the Black Lodge and the further are somewhat similar I suppose.

   To be honest, I only have one complaint about the film and that would be the film’s second half. It’s not able to live up to the high standards that were set by the first half, but that’s usual for most films actually. Imagine you’re watching Rambo and then midway through the film, it turns into a Hallmark Christmas TV movie. That’s a pretty drastic change right? That’s how Insidious felt to me.

  The film isn’t your typical horror film. First of all it’s PG-13. Usually a horror film being rated that turns me off, but it’s actually my favorite PG-13 horror film other than ‘The Sixth Sense’. It’s a horror film geared toward the more patient viewers in my opinion. Actually I believed that the film was going to be one of the few horror films that had a happy ending the way things were going. Silly of me to assume that.

    It’s reminiscent of the old-school horror flicks. Writer Leigh Whannell and director James Wan did put together a fun horror film, which spawned three sequels. Overall, ‘Insidious’ is a fun creepy film with great practical effects and a pretty decent ending.

4.2 out of 5 Black Lodge Dale Coopers