The Insidious Nature of Lockdown…

So, every now and again I get these periods where I just need to scratch an itch to watch some good, interesting horror films. I tend not to go for slashers or gore anymore – I prefer interesting ideas and stories, things that make you ask questions or think! With that in mind, I turned my eye to the Insidious films that are all available on Netflix UK and I think I am now a series fan!

The Tl;Dr Version (Spoiler Free)

The ideas in the stories are great, I think, and reasonably nuanced, considering the plethora of ghost and psychic stories that are out there. 8/10. The scares are mostly shock based, in and of themselves not particularly notable, but the cinematography makes them interesting and the imagery/context helps to flesh them out. 6.5/10. The acting is great, I think, and I really can’t say anything bad about it – even the children are decent, which is a nice change from a majority of child actors in horror films! 7/10. Overall, I found them very enjoyable and while I wouldn’t say they are the peak of the horror genre, they are definitely worth watching and suspending your disbelief for! 7.5/10.

The Detailed Version (Spoilers Ahead)

As it stands at time of writing, the Insidious series consists of four inter-connected films, and while I could in theory review each one as a separate post each, I don’t want to go too much into each film individually. Rather I want to give a bit of an overall discussion about what I liked about the ideas and the stories, and how I think those played out on screen.

On that very point, I think they first thing to note is that the series as a whole is a bit of a fluke! The first film, Insidious, was a low-budget horror experiment that was written for fun and was never expected to be as successful as it turned out to be. With that in mind, the way the stories actually fit together is actually a very impressive feat. Quite often in a situation like this you find that a brilliant concept is well done and very popular so a sequel (or multiple sequels) is made and they either never quite reach up to the potential of the first or else have some very heavy retconning/changes in style or direction.* In my opinion, that is not the case for Insidious, which is surprising considering James Wan has openly stated that he doesn’t really have a plan for the stories until he writes them. This is probably why Elise, the ‘main’ character, dies at the end of the first one, and then has to be brought back as a spirit in the second one so as not to break continuity and then is at the centre of two prequels (i.e. not dead!). Beyond that, though, the links between the films and characters make things really interesting, with a particular moment on the fourth film making you wonder whether a lot of what happened in the first two was actually all Elise’s fault in the first place (albeit unintentionally so).

*I’m looking at YOU Fast and Furious, with your convoluted timeline, inconsistent characters and convenient memory-losses/contrived continuities.

Like I said at the top, I like horror films that have an interesting premise/story. Insidious, for me, ticks that box nicely. Without over-doing it, the writing has created mystery and raises questions that are dying for answers. Some of these answers may never come, but most of the big ones are revealed naturally through the plot, with those remaining being left to speculation and theory. In other words, a genuine sense of wonder as much as horror. The viewer finds themselves actively wanting to know more about the Further, more about the characters and their abilities, more about the demons/ghosts themselves and why they are as they are. The Bride in Black, for example, is not simply ‘misc. evil’ but actually has motive and intent, while Elise’s father is simultaneously a massive abusive dick AND a victim of a type of possession/demonic influence. . There is obviously a degree of evil for evil’s sake, but for the most part you aren’t expected to simply accept it without explanation (as you all too often are in horror movies).

Being honest, I think that this is what saves the movies from being ‘generic’. Due to the low budget (I think the first film was made for about $5mil) the scares and ‘horror’ come from the expert building of tension through the cinematography and the fact that you are actually invested in the people and what is going on thanks to both the story and the acting. You can be watching for ages in the gloomy darkness, preparing yourself for a scare that never comes until a few minutes later when you think you are safe. Or, as in chapter three, you are expecting a scare to come from below (literally the bottom of your screen) only for hands to spring down and grab you from above! Tricks like this aren’t new, and I wouldn’t exactly say this was innovative in any way, but it is done well and to great effect.

I really like this series of movies. I was a little dubious at first – the low budget is clear from promotional images etc., and unfortunately that doesn’t leave a great initial impression. But I ignored that and once I stepped into the world of the Further I could not find the Red Door to the place I was at before. The films were, indeed, insidious, and creepily wormed their way into my consciousness and refuse to let go!