Insidious
PG-13
103 Minutes
2010
Given the sorry state of the Saw franchise by the time it (blissfully) ended, it's easy to forget that the original film - one of several collaborations between director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell - was actually quite inventive and clever. Some of the acting may have been suspect or hammy (I'm looking at you, Cary Elwes and Danny Glover), but the film's story about a serial killer who concocts elaborate deathtraps to teach the ungrateful about the value of life was intriguing.
Unfortunately, Wan and Whannell have failed to capture the magic on subsequent projects, and the disappointing Insidious is another mildly entertaining, but ultimately forgettable supernatural thriller.
The Lambert family has just moved into a large new home, but an accident in the attic apparently leaves one of their children in a coma. After several months, strange occurrences terrify stay-at-home mother and aspiring musician Renai (Rose Byrne), while father and husband Josh begins to spend more and more time working late.
This ultimately leads to one several plot threads that is mentioned, then forgotten about as Renai begins to mistake her husband's frequent late nights with infidelity. After a brief confrontation where she implores him to move, and he agrees all too quickly, the family picks up and leaves for a new home only to discover that whatever was tormenting them has followed them.
Insidious tries to build suspense with obvious red herrings, but the payoffs are never worthwhile. Apart from the occasional glimpse of a red-faced demon who, quite frankly, resembles Star Wars villain Darth Maul a bit too much to be truly scary, the film fails to generate any lasting feelings of dread for any seasoned horror movie veteran.
There's nothing here you haven't seen before. Doors open and close on their own. Creepy voices and unexplained noises echo through a house. One character sees something, then another rushes in to save her to find her alone. The requisite ghostly children and creepy old ladies, including one that looks suspiciously like Mary Shaw from Wan's Dead Silence - they're all here, along with all the other horror movie standards.
To make matters worse, editing seems sloppy and rushed. Fades seem too abrupt, and the story feels forced. The pacing just felt completely off, and bits of the film even seem lifted from other, better horror films, including a sequence involving a medium that was done better in A.J. Bayona's vastly superior, and emotionally moving, The Orphanage. It all culminates in a clumsily telegraphed and utterly predictable ending, even to those unfamiliar with Wan and Whannell's penchant for twists.
Insidious is another run of the mill horror flick with thinly developed characters, and obvious, flat scares. It's not the worst thing I've ever seen, but with so little originality on display, it might as well have been called Insipid.
Sca-ry! Don't know if I'm up for this... 103 min' of shear horrow. Creepy.
Posted by: watch movies online | November 20, 2011 at 08:17 AM