I haven’t seen a movie this jumpy since I saw Drag Me To Hell at the cinema a good few years ago, and I must say I was impressed, especially seeing as this was a completely different kind of horror movie than director James Wan has previously done (most famous would be Dead Silence and Saw). I also find it particularly ironic that James Wan claims to be a ‘really squeamish guy’, despite directing the first of one of the most popular gory franchises in modern times (- Saw, if you hadn’t already figured!). Anyway, I’ve strayed from the point here, as I praise Insidious for not falling into that trap itself, relying on the more ‘old fashioned’ techniques to frighten, which does indeed make a refreshing change – even if some of the ‘demons’ are a little on the cheesy side!
Other people ‘attached’ to the production of this film include Leigh Whannell (who has co-written with James Wan on various other horror projects) and Oren Peli (the director of Paranormal Activity), who are two other ‘famous’ names in horror, so expectations were certainly high for Insidious. Additionally, it was being promoted as ‘the scariest movie since The Exorcist’ which is certainly a very big pair of shoes to fill. I feel that this is perhaps going a tad overboard, and so must unfortunately reject this statement – but I still think that it is a decent film and worth seeing, especially as it only has a 15 certificate (PG-13 in the US). The reason for this is probably because there’s a lot of suspense and tension as opposed to gore, which may cause some people to give a sigh of relief. Similarly, I’ve always thought that music plays such a key part in horror movies (although, some of the scariest films choose to use none) and the score in Insidious works wonderfully well to scare the audience, perfectly complimenting the visual experience.
In a way though, I think that a large influence of this film has come from the classic Poltergeist (directed by Tobe Hooper, who also made The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – original, of course!). This is most obviously demonstrated with the child who ends up being stuck in ‘another dimension’, and whilst this is not necessarily a criticism per se, as all films have drawn influences from somewhere, I don’t believe that Insidious can be dubbed a completely original idea. It merely manipulated an old idea, namely the traditional ghost story, in a way that we haven’t seen before. There’s also a dash of comedy thrown in there too, just in case things all got a bit much for us, which is always good (if done well). Stripping all of the ‘supernatural’ horror elements aside for a moment, this film is fundamentally about the love that parent’s have for their children and the lengths that they’ll go to in order to ‘save’ them.
Unfortunately, I felt that a lot was given away in just the trailer for this film, meaning that when some of the things were ‘revealed’ during the course of the movie, it didn’t have quite the impact it should have done. Plus, the rather dumb, tautological (oh yes, I know that word!) tagline ‘Insidious is…Insidious’ failed to really grab anyone’s attention. However, there were still plenty of scares in there to keep the viewer entertained. Both Patrick Wilson (who I personally remember from the infamous Hard Candy, alongside Ellen Page) and Rose Byrne (who has been in films like Troy, Sunshine and The Dead Girl) did a good job acting as the young couple whose boy has gotten lost in this other realm called ‘the Further’. I liked the fact that this is a movie that does ‘scare’ you rather than just being disgusting.
Apparently, a sequel is already on the cards for this one with Leigh Whannell once again on board as writer. Whilst I’m sceptical about any sequel being made, I can only hope that ‘Insidious 2’ reaches the standards of the first film, but only time will tell!
