K-SCORE: 44
Director: James Wan
Writer: Leigh Whannell
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey
Spoiler Level: Moderate
“I think the director and writer know the genre very well and wanted to do something different, but they’re not creative enough to actually make bold strides into new horror territory.”
I watched this film by myself in a darkened home theater that makes the walls quake when there’s substantial noise and I still wasn’t even close to frightened by its content. These haunted house films just aren’t good enough. This one had the semi-clever twist of making the child haunted instead of the house, thereby enabling the family to “just leave” which is, of course, what everyone shouts at the screen when they’re watching such horror films. They left and paranormal evil things kept happening to them. Oooh.
The sad thing is, that small adjustment is actually enough to build a decent story on, but Insidious is chock-a-block full of the same tricks: electronic devices turning on and off on their own, doors slamming on their own, faces in windows and mirrors that can’t be looked at directly, creepy children, attics with cobwebs, dust, and shadows, paranormal experts, flashlights that seem to illuminate only the character holding them, the camera staying in front of the character making it feel like they’re walking into unknown trouble, and so on.
Though I didn’t find it particularly exciting, there are some moments that I liked. One scene actually took place during the daytime. That’s a rarity, and really the scene isn’t any less creepy than the nighttime scenes so director James Wan proved it could be done with this little genre experiment. Also there are a ton of terror moments, so it’s not as boring as a lot of films like it. The plot is wacky with all the dream shit, but characters behave mostly as I expect real people would in such insane circumstances, and that gives the film some needed stability. And lastly, the finale leaves room for a sequel or two or ten, which isn’t great for the health of Hollywood, but from a narrative perspective is a positive. Most haunted house / possessed children stories are solved in about ninety minutes, which collectively has given me the perception that such conflicts in life are relatively easy to deal with. Just get out your cross and stand your ground against the demon and scream words like, “Begone, foul thing!” and “Leave my family alone!” and that ought to wrap it up. Insidious doesn’t relent quite as easily.
It’s still pretty stupid. The characters are lame. Can you come up with one character name for a non-slasher horror film? Any film. Like, what’s the Mom’s name in The Exorcist? I don’t remember and I just looked it up ten seconds before I wrote this sentence. Insidious has an unremarkable ensemble. I think the director and writer know the genre very well and wanted to do something different, but they’re not creative enough to actually make bold strides into new horror territory. If the son is haunted, why set the thing in those old colonials at all? Why not pick a new place? Why not try a story without those douchebag paranormal investigators who are always brilliant at their no-market jobs, but, oh, this is the worst case of demonitis we’ve ever seen! Why not try it with people that aren’t upper middle class and white? Or a family that doesn’t have young children? Why not have the characters stay terribly confused throughout, never receiving that explanation from the ghost hunter because, you know, ghost hunters don’t really exist? Confusion would be expected and is conducive to terror. Also, confused characters might take risks to try to find answers that then put them in more danger. Stake-raising conflict right there. And how about leaving out the unblinking dolls? I’ve seen them. I’m not convinced they’re secretly alive. Leave them out.
So - I guess it’s time for this - Cliché List: Horror (Paranormal)