Title: Insidious
Director: James Wan
Producer: Jason Blum
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Distributor: Alliance Films, IM Global
Series: N/A
Release Date: April 1, 2011
Format: Standard
Runtime: 102 Minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Starring: Patrick Wilson , Rose Byrne , Lin Shaye , Ty Simpkins , Barbara Hershey
Synopsis (Product Description):
This horror film is the terrifying story of a family who shortly after moving discover that dark spirits have possessed their home and that their son has inexplicably fallen into a coma. Trying to escape the haunting and save their son, they move again only to discover that it was not their house that was haunted.
The Review:
From the makers of Paranormal Activity 1 and 2 comes a new horror movie, Insidous, starring Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne. The Paranormal Activity people have not lost their touch and Insidious is an excellent example of how to make a scary movie without having to overly rely on creating a gorefest. Rather, Insidious opts for creating and sustaining tension, playing the audience masterfully. You’ll jump just when Insidious‘ creators want you to jump and you’ll scream just when they want you to scream. Watch it in the right frame of mind and with a good audience and you’ll be creeped out.
As with Paranormal Activity, Insiduous takes the haunted house genre and combines it with the demon possessed child genre, a la Omen and the Exorcist. It throws in a pinch of A Nightmare on Elm Street and the result is something unique and extremely entertaining for devotees of the horror genre. It’s clever and offers important new wrinkles for how our protagonists are supposed to deal with their situation. One can move out of a haunted house, but one cannot easily move away from a haunted family member.
Insidous centers around the Lambert Family: Josh, Renai, Dalton and Foster. At first there’s nothing about this family that marks them as abnormal, but as things progress it becomes clear that there is a very dark cloud hanging over them. As with the folks in Paranormal Activity, the classic signs of a house haunting begin when the Lambert family moves into their new home. Things move around, strange noises come out of the baby monitor and shadows seem to have a life of their own. Mom, and the kids seem to notice these things first and Dad is determined to rationalize away these strange happenings. Things progress to a point that even Josh cannot deny the evidence any longer. Without giving too much away, there are indeed supernatural forces at play and they have not settled upon the Lambert clan by mere chance.
Insidious succeeds because you are on the same journey of discovery as the Lambert family. You learn alongside them answers to the question, why them? And the further you go, the more insidious their problems appear, hence the film’s title. Another winner from the makers of Paranormal Activity. If you are easily creeped out, then think twice about this seeing this movie. While nothing will ever creep me out as much the little girl from The Ring, Insidous left me leaving on an extra light or two around the apartment, and very thankful that I don’t live in a creepy old house.
FTC Advisory: We purchased our own tickets.
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Thanks for the review!
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