Insidious is the latest from Saw director James Wan, an old-school haunted house flick that harkens back to the likes of Poltergeist and The Amityville Horror. Starring in the film are Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne (who can currently be seen opposite Kristen Wiig in the Hangover-for-women movie, Bridesmaids); they play a couple with three young children, a new house, and some weird happenings going on around the homestead. I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, but there is an event that happens in the movie that deviates the story away from a “normal” haunted house movie (though it does follow the same kind of pattern). That event, although it happens early on, seems spoilerific to me so I’ll just shut my mouth.
As a huge horror movie fan and an uber-fan of Wan’s underappreciated masterpiece Saw, I really enjoyed Insidious. The first two thirds of this movie gave the perfect sense of foreboding and subtle horror. Every small noise or movement gave way to some real tension (coming as no surprise seeing as Oren Peli, director of Paranormal Activity, produced this picture). The cast was great, with some familiar faces among the smaller parts, including Barbara Hershey (who plays another disheveled mother in last year’s Black Swan), Saw alumnus Leigh Whannell, and the I-know-I’ve-seen-her-before character actress Lin Shaye. The monochromatic color palette provided a great look for the film, giving the projected image a distinctly nightmarish tone. The majority of the movie is very watchable and could be one of the best traditional ghost movies in a long while.
The first half of the movie was full of suspense and quiet intensity, but as the film drew to its final act, things start to fall apart. The great sense of mood and subtlety that was established prior is totally lost to pure in-your-face spectacle. After setting up a certain atmosphere, these final moments felt jarring and out of place. Those scenes taken in the context of another film might have worked; if only the filmmakers took the hint of “less is more” closer to heart. Overall though, I think fans of the genre will enjoy it. While the last act needs much improvement, the ride it took to get there was fun and scary.
Rating: B
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