I have never seen Insidious prior to this viewing, and after seeing Malignant (our review) I had to see more of James Wan’s madness. I was very pleasantly surprised by this tightly packed, truly horrifying feature. There was no better feature for the 12th day of Shocktober.
From the twisted direction of James Wan comes a new horror thrill, something truly Insidious. Finally there is a horror movie that breaks the typical tropes of horror films, while still relying on jump scares, terrors, and genuine thrills, Insidious packs a really heavy punch of horror. Leigh Whannell also writes the disturbing feature that launched a new world of genuinely surprising, intense, thrilling horror movies.
The movie focuses on Josh played by Patrick Wilson, Renai played by Rose Byrne, and their sons Dalton played by Ty Simpkins and Foster played by Andrew Astor. A freak accident, assumed to be by a possession of the house, puts Dalton in a coma. As Josh and Renai try to figure out what happened, Renai keeps seeing a figure in the shadows and convinces her husband and family to relocate to a new house. Everything should be fixed now, no more house that was on an old burial, or a possessed house, or anything like that. That would be too easy though, and the creature/demon follows them to their new house and the true horrors start to take place.
What makes Insidious such a fantastic horror film is that it doesn’t fall into the typical tropes of horror films. It packs a few jump scares, but the build, the fact that they actually leave the house, and the camera work truly bring the horror to the forefront in a way that normally hasn’t been seen. Bringing a new environment of exterior terrors to the forefront without something explainable, like a burial ground, a witch’s curse, and so forth, truly leaves the audience to set aside their predetermined ideas of what the film can be and lets them fully experience the film for what it is.
As well, the performances from everyone from Patrick Wilson, to Rose Byrne and Ty Simpkins truly shine throughout the movie. They manage to make the audience believe in the genuine terrors that are the screen and bring them to life. The audience is absolutely captivated by the story and their performances, leaving everyone a little more on edge than when they first entered the experience. Insidious delivers the scares to the forefront, packs the performances to the top and delivers a fantastic, terrifying, horror feature.
