What happens when the creators of SAW and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY team up to make a horror movie called Insidious? Maybe something that is not so great.
Being a huge fan of horror films, especially the movie PARANORMAL and its sequels – it’s always exciting to see a scary movie when the team consists of a successful cast and crew. With great actors that have done impressive work and a production team that have scared audiences stiff white before – what could go wrong? The movie stars two-time Tony nominee Patrick Wilson (The Watchmen, Little Children), and two- time Emmy nominee Rose Byrne (Damages, 28 Weeks Later); as Josh and Renai, a married couple with two young children. The couple begins noticing strange ghostly events in their new home. All of a sudden, their eldest son slips into a mysteriously eerie coma just when things start getting very supernatural. They hire a pair of parapsychologists and a psychic, portrayed by Line Shaye (Snakes on a Plane, My Sister’s Keeper); to remedy the problem. However, an introduction to Josh’s mother Lorraine, played by Oscar nominee Barbara Hershey (Black Swan, Loves Comes Lately); admits an underlying secret that unfolds into a dark twist of events. Sounds entertaining right?
Much is to be expected when the creators of the film claim that they want this film to be this generations POLTERGEIST. It’s definitely a movie about haunted houses, but where the film loses its gas is in the unveiling of the horrors - so to speak. Starting out, the movie gives the audience an eerie feeling of mysterious supernatural events occurring, and the actors to a terrific job portraying an innocent family struck by all these scary events. There are plenty of creepy page turners giving the viewers the scary questionable feeling of “What’s going to happen next?” The filmmakers are good at using dark corners with strange noises and unanswered circumstances that are enough to raise the hair on the back of a person’s neck. The scene where one of the kids is playing in the attic and takes notice to a hair raising sound coming from the shadows; or when its bedtime and the family hears a strange sudden noise, only to find the front door wide open. These scenes alone will make the audience look over their shoulder and wish the theater staff would turn on the lights. Then as the events unravel and as the veil of horror is finally pulled - “Awe, that’s it?”
Out of all fairness it has to be a tough sale to completely give way to the mystery and show exactly what is causing all of the horror. Movies like POLTERGEIST and PARANORMAL held on to a lot of the mystery, which is exactly what Insidious doesn’t do. When films give away like this, it takes a lot to prove to the audience that this is in fact, well, scary. Mystery brings the unknown, and the unknown invites a feeling of eeriness; which this movie fairs well with at first. Take all of this away, and filmmakers better have a pretty unusually scary or shocking idea; otherwise the audience will probably walk away unsatisfied with the feeling of being robbed of their fear. Insidious gives too much away, leaving very little to the imagination and it’s hard to imagine that it will even set well with the die hardest of horror fans. Then again opinions do vary, and what doesn’t scare some people may very well scare other people. All in all, if you are an easy sell and get scared while touring the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland -then maybe this film is for you. If you get a little nervous taking your kids trick or treating on Halloween - then this film may still be for you. Now if you have never been to the Haunted Mansion and/or Halloween is about having a good time, and walking to the bathroom down a dark hallway is a piece of cake- maybe you should look elsewhere. Either way, you’ve been warned.
