A great series that take a turn for…the normal. The Insidious series has always been different from most horror films. It left you with questions, agony, and a bit of remorse from watching it. Yet, the newest chapter, which technically is a prequel to the other two movies, has fallen very short compared to its previous incarnations.

The story starts off with Quinn, a young teenage girl who is in her senior year of high school in search of a psychic to help her get in contact with her deceased mother. Her family has been falling apart ever since her mother died. Her father is struggling to raise two kids and looks to Quinn for help in raising her younger brother. This is a typical broken family as seen in horror films. Quinn is also a quirky character who is aspiring to go to a theatre school and is in love with books. Everything about the family and the start of the story is rather basic. Unfortunately, this happens to almost be the entire movie.

Elise, the psychic Quinn seeks out, is the familiar face to the series that we all recognize. Finally we get to learn more about Elise and her psychic abilities. Elise, played by Lin Shaye, is the psychic we have come to love in the first two movies. She is the brave soul that faces her fears of the old woman in black who claimed would kill Elise with her bare hands if she got the chance.

Easily from the start you begin to notice that there is a side story that will unravel with the main character. Quinn of course has a dark soul latched to her body wanting to take her into what Elise calls “The Further”, yet Elise’s story is what everyone who loves the franchise might be a bit pleased about.  I really wished the movie was more focused on Elise than Quinn, since it would have given a different twist to the horror movie basics that were played out for the third movie.

Yet, not all hope is lost. I can say that even though there were cheap scares, a couple of them were unpredictable and did make the people in the audience scream. I am glad there was almost no fake scares, where something scares you even though nothing happened, if you get what I mean. This is definitely not a horror film you bring your jacket to hide behind, but a good film to watch if you are a fan of the series.

Lastly, the cinematography wasn’t the same as the original movies. In fact, some of the CG looked extremely fake, and the eerie feel we got with the smoke and darkness wasn’t the same eerie feel we receive in this movie. If you loved the series due to its production and how it visually was executed then I would advise you to not waste your money on seeing this in theatres. It’s definitely a Redbox rental.

Overall this movie gets a 3 out of 5. The only reason to watch this movie is for Lin Shaye, and I hope if they continue the series it will have her as the focal point.

 

by Janey La Royale