Rating: C+
Dir: James Wan
Star: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell
There’s no denying that the various Wan-iverse films have been a box-office juggernaut over the past couple of decades. The Saw, Conjuring and Insidious franchises have grossed over $4.1 billion at the box-office worldwide between them. Which makes it all the odder, I have seen almost none of them. I stopped after the second Saw film: there are ten. I have seen none of the eight movies in the Conjuring universe. Until today, I was batting 0-for the Insidious franchise. No particular reason. They just feel very safe, and so not particularly interesting. The only reason I watched this was reading about an upcoming stage version, Insidious: The Further You Fear. Figured watching a film might clue us in as to whether to shell out for tickets.
So, here we are. It was more or less as anticipated. This is slick, mainstream horror: well-crafted, though owing a large and obvious debt to Poltergeist. The Lambert family – Josh (Wilson) and Renai (Byrne), plus their three kids – move into a new house. Almost immediately, Renai begins to feel uncomfortable, and things escalate after son Dalton suffers a fall while exploring the attic, and then goes into an inexplicable coma. Renai keeps seeing mysterious figures, and moving house doesn’t help. Josh’s mother (Barbara Hershey, who knows a thing or two about paranormal activity) calls in a team of investigators led by psychic Elise Rainier (Shaye), despite the sceptical Josh. Turns out the explanation is closer to home than comfortable for him.
I feel this works better in the earlier stages. It takes a while to get going, yet this works, because we’re getting to know the Lamberts. They’re a nice, regular family, though seem to be able to afford a very nice house, considering he’s a teacher and she’s… um, a songwriter, who never seems to sell any songs? They’re likeable enough, and you can feel the pain after Dalton goes catatonic. From here, things progress as expected, though definitely kick up a notch with the arrival of Rainier. Shaye is quite wonderful, her character significantly different from the typical movie medium, taking no crap and pulling no punches either. Another plus: a refreshing restraint on cheap jump scares.
The problems occur after Josh has to venture into The Further – more or less, the astral plane – to search for and bring back Josh’s wandering spirit. There isn’t much to this: it feels like you are watching somebody wander round a mid-strength haunted house (the limitations of PG-13 horror strike once more). Probably doesn’t help that Josh is likely the film’s blandest character. It would have been more effective to send the “sensitive” Renai, perhaps backed up by Elise, and play up the maternal angle. I can’t say I was bored in total, or felt my time was wasted. On the other hand, I’m hardly filled with a passionate desire to check out the other entries in the franchise. Nor will we be shelling out upwards of fifty bucks for a seat in the theatre version. [And, by subsequent accounts, we were wise not to do so!]