Insidious: Chapter 3

Dir: Leigh Whannell

2015

**

Horror films of the last twenty or so years have been very samey. You can't beat the classics, now and again a great horror comes along but more often than not the film is then tarnished by a string of inferior sequels. Some sequels have often ended up being better than the original (Evil Dead, Friday 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Howling) but generally that is because they are worse than the original - they don't take themselves as seriously and are even laughable in some cases. Evil Dead 2 is better than Evil Dead as it is more refined for example, while The Howling 3 is so bizarre, it ends up being more entertaining that the billion other sequels that followed the original put together. Most modern horror films pass me by, I'm not generally interested, I will watch the first but if I don't like it I will stop there. Insidious didn't interest me initially and I only caught it once it made it to television but I found myself being pleasantly surprised. It was a classic haunted house story but with a little more depth and an entertaining fantasy element. It had some legitimately good jumps-scenes with original and clever scenarios. The follow up felt unnecessary and wasn't as good but there was something about it that felt acceptable and I ended up not hating it. There really wasn't a need for a third film, the original story had reached it's conclusion, the film did well though so the inevitable prequel was made. The story should have been a 'how they met' scenario - which it was in the end - but by and large it’s a remake of the original story but not a very good one. I found the character Elise Rainer to be refreshingly mysterious in the original and follow up and I generally believe it is best to leave most characters as they are and at their strongest. I’m happy for Lin Shaye after all the years she’s been mistreated by the Farrelly Brothers but I’m not sure the third film does her any favours – even though she is firmly the best thing about it. Dermot Mulroney and Stefanie Scott play father and daughter clichés and neither actor do a particularly good job of it. How Tucker and Specs meet Elise Rainer was probably what the fans of the franchise were most looking forward to but this is handled in the most under-whelming way they possibly could. The ideas were cliché and half-written, the film is creepy in place with some great ‘jump’ moments but by and large these are cheaply done with unforgivable tricks. Having something scary revealed out of shot will obviously scare the audience but it makes no sense when they are clearly in view of our protagonist. It’s a lazy trick that Hitchcock was ridiculing over fifty years ago – I can’t believe horror directors are still doing it. The worst thing about the film however is the villain. The ‘Man who can’t breathe’ has to be one of the crappiest ghosts ever to have appeared in a horror film. Firstly, he has no back story. Secondly, he is dead, he doesn’t need to breathe. He is literally one up from ‘Ghost with a headache’ and ‘Demon with mild arthritis’. Instead of trying to cast him out with spells and what have you they could have simply just laughed at him and I’m sure he would have gone away. Although many are laughing at this franchise and it’s still here so I guess I’m wrong.

Insidious: Chapter 2

Dir: James Wan

2013

***

I thought James Wan's 2010 Insidious was a somewhat original take on the classic haunted house scenario with a few cliches but mainly exploring new ideas. His 2013 follow up is, as you'd expect from a continuing story, more of the same. The impact of the first film is lost but the suspense, thrills and fun had in the first chapter is still present, as is the pesky ghost, who just can't seem to let the Lambert family go. This time however, the ghost in question has an extra dimension. Wan furthers ideas explored in the first film and comes up with some very clever ideas that cross time, space and the other place rather brilliantly. The big scares aren't as big however in the follow up and we do cover a lot of old ground. The humour doesn't always work either but the characters delivering the funnies are likable and so get away with it just. The real heart of the film's success is still Lin Shaye's Elise Rainer. How they worked her character back into the film here is fantastic and if the franchise is to remain, it will now always have to feature her for me to be interested. A solid, and above all, fun haunted house movie.

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.