Year of Release: 2023
Director: Patrick Wilson
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Ty Simpkins, Rose Byrne, Sinclair Daniel, Andrew Astor, Hiam Abbass, Juliana Davies, Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Steve Coulter, Peter Dager, David Call, Stephen Gray, Joseph Bishara, Robin S. Walker
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4
Watch it on Amazon
Synopsis and Review
The always fantastic Patrick Wilson whose work includes such memorable performances in "Angels in America", "Little Children" and "Young Adult", has also maintained a long association with filmmaker James Wan, and they together have collaborated on two successful horror series, "The Conjuring" and "Insidious" (not to mention of course their collaboration on the DC Universe with the "Aquaman" films). This fifth chapter in the "Insidious" saga marks Patrick Wilson's feature directorial debut, working from a story cooked by Leigh Whannell and Scott Teems (with a screenplay by the latter). The narrative once again focuses on the story of the Lambert family, specifically Dalton who is now a young adult, ready to go to college. He and his father Josh have grown distant, as a result of what Josh calls a "fogginess", but also he has since divorced Renai his supporting wife (which has added a bit to that friction). They all meet once again for Josh's mother's funeral. Josh takes Renai's advice and volunteers to take Dalton to college since he's starting his freshman year. Dalton has become a talented artist and is going to be attending an art degree course. When the two are getting Dalton's things settled in the dorm room, they meet Chris Winslow the roommate, who turns out to be in the room by mistake, but nonetheless she and Dalton hit if off quite well. Dalton starts drawing some unexpectedly dark elements in his classes, and things he doesn't quite understand start occurring. He also starts asking more about what what happened in his childhood, when he was in a "coma" for close to a year. As he probes deeper he uncovers that what happened wasn't really a coma, but something that his father also has had to contend with, something involving a dark place called "The Further".
This chapter in the "Insidious" series is a direct sequel to the second chapter which came out in 2013 (while the other two films in the series went in different directions and also focused on different characters). Sadly and for all of Patrick Wilson's good intentions and considerable talent, he's unable to do much with such a mediocre script (maybe it's time for Mr. Teems to really move on to something else, since all the scripts he has delivered including "Halloween Kills", "Firestarter" and "The Exorcist: Believer" have all been eviscerated by bad reviews). What was interesting about the series, and in particular about the first film, was the way Leigh Whannell and James Wan created a different universe, a scary one at that, by relying on the creation of a suspenseful and horrific parallel reality which coexisted with the one in which the characters lived. As it typically happens in most successful horror films, it placed a family unit as the target of something almost inexplicable, malevolent and seemingly unstoppable. It managed to bring an updated and yet darker dimension to Tobe Hooper's "Poltergeist" in a way to the 21st century, doing so with fewer resources but just as much imagination. "Insidious" wasn't revolutionary in terms of character development, at least for the genre, but it established the characters enough to allow the audience to understand the journey they went on. Patrick Wilson's chapter however, feels like an unnecessary take on a story that was already closed and fairly played out. And this chapter doesn't add anything in terms of knowing what these characters have been doing and what has happened to them since the last events, the same way that the introduction of "The Further" feels forced and ultimately uninspired. What salvages and ultimately makes the film watchable is the cast, with Patrick Wilson, the always fantastic Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye and Steve Coulter always making the characters compelling and watchable. The production team is solid, including Autumn Eakin's cinematography, Joseph Bishara's score and Adam Reamer's production design. It's watchable and forgettable, and ultimately doesn't add much to the series.
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