I thought I would review Insidious since a new film in the franchise is being released later this year. This first film in the Insidious franchise which first came to theaters through FilmDistrict and directed by James Wan, known for  Saw [2004], Dead Silence [2007], The Conjuring [2013] and many more and is working again with screenwriter/actor Leigh Whannell who also wrote Saw.

Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson

Ty Simpkins

The Lambert family movies into a new house in the beginning of the film the father is teacher Josh (Patrick (The Conjuring [2013])) and mother/aspiring musician Renai (Rose Bryne (28 Weeks Later [2007])) with their two sons and infant daughter. The oldest, Dalton (Ty Simpkins (Jurassic World [2015])) decides to go exploring in the attic and falls off the latter however the next day he won’t wake up. Dr. Sercarz (Ruben Pla (XX [2017])) says he’s in a coma and after three months goes home and is hooked up to machines. Soon more mysterious happenings start going on Renai is seeing ghosts and dark figures and what scared her the most was a bloody hand print on Dalton’s sheets. It didn’t take long for them to move to a new home because they thought the house was haunted, but it didn’t take long for everything to start happening all over again.

Lin Shaye

Angus Sampson and Leigh Whannell

Josh’s mother, Lorraine (Barbara Hershey (The Entity [1982])) tries to help and says she knows from experience what Renai is going through and decides to call Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye (Ouija [2014])) and her two helpers Specs (Leigh Whannell (Keep Watching [2017])) and Tucker (Angus Sampson (Winchester [2018])) who start investigating and this is where we see Elise in her prime and what’s really happening to Dalton. They are also the characters that work to ease tension in the film. She informs Josh and Renai that he is NOT in a coma and that his body is lying in the bed, but his spirit is astro planning and has done so for quite some time. The danger is that it’s gone to a place called The Further and can’t get back so the “Demon” is trying to get into his body to destroy everyone. Here we find out why Lorraine knows Elise you see, the same thing happened to Josh when he was a little boy and they wiped his memory, so he didn’t remember what happened. The only way Dalton can get back is if Josh goes into The Further to get him, which of course he does with a lot of complications along the way and is successful and Dalton wakes up and returns. Everything seems to be ok again but of course this is a horror movie, and things aren’t what the seem with Josh as he gets possessed again while in the further and does the unthinkable when he returns. I won’t elaborate what that is for those who haven’t seen the film.

J LaRose and Rose Byrne

Insidious made more that $100 million which of course set up a franchise and includes 4 sequels and as I said at the top of the review a new one coming out this year. When the Last Key came out in 2018, I told my boyfriend that it was the last one and he just laughed at me because he said this is a money maker and they’ll never stop which of course he was right because in 2023 they came out with the 4th film and now the 5th in 2026. Insidious did have a lot of jump scares and was an enjoyable film. It was interesting how Part 2 was going to come about and if you saw this film you’ll know what I mean. I recommend this to any horror fan especially ones that like franchises.

Bonnie Aarons and Patrick Wilson

TAGLINES:

• What’s in that picture?
• We need to save Dalton . . . Now!
• The further you travel, the darker it gets
• From the Makers of Paranormal Activity and Saw
• It’s not the House that’s Haunted.
• Insidious Is…

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1591095

IMDb Rating: 6.8/10

3C Rating: 6.5/10

Followed by:

Insidious: Chapter 2 [2013]

Insidious: Chapter 3 [2015]

Insidious: The Last Key [2018]

Insidious: The Red Door [2023]

Insidious: Out of the Further [2026]