Insidious
Dir: James Wan
2010
***
This review includes Spoilers. Considering the Haunted House genre has been done to death, Insidious doesn't do too bad a job. It was a brave move by it's makers that paid off but it's not brilliant. The first half is a case of 'It's what you don't see' that scares you and this works - better than Paranormal Activity in my opinion. It's the second half that really lets it down though, when you begin to see the Insidious ones the scares become somewhat sparse. It's a little cliched too, you wait an hour to see a Ghost and when you do it's just a bunch of pale looking people in Victorian clothing. Boo indeed. Actually, the 'Red face in Kitchen scene was good but it was the only 'Jump out of your seat' scene which there should have been more of. The fantasy end comes very close to cheesy 80's horror storyline-wise but without it being as fun as that was back then and by the end you're really not that bothered about how it ends because chances are you've already worked it out (not that it makes much sense anyway). Nice to see Lin Shaye in a good role though, she's earned it after all the crap she's been given all these years. I've seen better but I've seen a hell of a lot worse, it's worth a watch horror fans.