Few movies nowadays have the power to generate tension and fright like the Insidious films. From the opening title sequence your hair stands on end and your nerves are already on edge. What makes this all the more impressive is that these films accomplish so much and generates this potent of fear while only being PG-13. The first film was surprisingly eerie and skin crawling. The second film was even more frightening and correcting the failings from the first. Now we have the third chapter in what might be the next great horror series.
SPOILER ALERT
The first two films told the story of the Lambert Family Case. A medium named Elise Rainier comes to their aid and loses her life in the process, but she does not lose her soul. Even after death she helps them combat the evil spirits attacking them. Even after death she is helping others. This film goes back to tell us an earlier tale of Elise's before the Lamberts. We find her at her wits end, shell shocked with fright and refusing to practice her gift ever again. In her last attempt to spirit-walk she encountered a terrifying female spirit that threatened to kill her should she continue.
Quinn Brenner lost her mother to cancer a year and a half ago. Yet she can still feel her mother's presence with her. Sometimes she hears noises at night. She's found objects in unusual places. And sometimes she's even heard voices. From a friend of a friend of a friend she found Elise's address. One afternoon she knocks on Elise's door and asks her to try and contact her mother on the other side. Elise senses Quinn's genuine feelings of loss and need for closure. Elise, for the first time in a long time, attempts to spirit walk. A dark entity is waiting for her...
Quinn admits to having attempted to contact her mother by herself. Elise reveals to her that when you call out to the dead... all of them can hear you. Quinn leaves. She continues hearing strange noises in the night. One night while auditioning for an acting college she sees a figure in the shadows waving at her. Afterwards she leaves. While crossing the street at night she sees the same figure standing in the road waving at her. Suddenly a car strikes Quinn from behind. She has a near death experience where she sees horrible frightening people and dark places.
Her legs are shattered. She's wheelchair bound for the next couple months until her bones heal. She can't move on her own. For the remainder of her convalescence she is bound to her room. The noises grow worse. She begins seeing that strange figure in the shadows getting closer and closer. It terrorizes her. It attacks her. It tries to possess her. Only one person can save Quinn from a fate worse than death... a person with the gift of spirit walking.
The first two Insidious films scared the hell out of me! They were so effectively creepy and both had images that haunted me for the next night when I closed my eyes. Not many horror films can do that. Both of these films were very effective and both were directed by James Wan, director of the original SAW film and DEAD SILENCE. He is not the director of the third Insidious film however. First time director Leigh Whannell takes the helm from James Wan.
Leigh Whannell is no stranger to this type of entertainment nor James Wan's directing style. Whannell and Wan have collaborated many times in the past. Whannell was the writer of the original Saw, Dead Silence, Insidious, and Insidious Chapter 2. He's also the writer of Insidious Chapter 3 as well as reprising his role as Specs from the first two films. Looking at these credentials one would think him the right man for the job, except for the first time director part.
Whannell delivers on yet another frightening chapter in the Insidious saga. Afterwards I still had images stuck in my head even after I went to sleep. The lead marauding spirit in this film is just as terrifying as the Bride in Black from the last film and equally as malevolent. One of the amazing aspects of Chapter 2 was how it tied in with the first film. This is very in line Whannell's Saw films as they all connected thoroughly. I'm pleased to say that this film too, in that same Saw tradition, ties in intricately to the other two films.
Lin Shaye returns as Elise and delivers yet another fantastic performance. Dermot Mulroney plays Quinn's father and he does a solid job as well. Some earlier scenes feel a bit forced and cliche but over all it only minutely detracts from the film. What matters are the scary parts and those are most certainly effective. Near the end there are few moments that lack the appropriate dread and seriousness of the subject matter but other than that I couldn't find a whole lot of complaints.
The music is once again by Joseph Bishara. It is an effective score and very evocative like the previous Insidious films, both to his credit. I have to point out the music in these films because it is as much an integral part as the sights and story. Part of the reason for these films being as effective as they are is due in large part to their terrifying scores. Not since the film RAVENOUS have I heard such an effective and powerful horror score as those supplied by Joseph Bishara.
If not for THE BABADOOK I'd have to say this is the scariest horror film of the year. And technically The Babadook was released last year, so... We've been in a dry spell for horror films for a while now. I haven't seen the new POLTERGEIST remake yet, but what I've heard hasn't been good. So if you're looking for a quality horror film look no further than Insidious Chapter 3... Look no further, but beware the Further.
Overall Ranking: 6 out of 10
Nude-O-Meter: 0 out of 10
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