Boy do I like Patrick Wilson. Guy is a phenomenal performer, handsome to a damn fault, and has made some really brave and interesting choices in his career. He also seems to really love genre, and I love that his passion for this franchise and these characters propelled him into the director’s chair for the first time for Insidious: The Red Door which concludes the story of the Lamberts. I wish the script held up its end of the bargain, because while there are the kernels of strong ideas and themes here, the door closes on the Lambert family in poor, dull, and rote style.

Reviews

Hooptober 11.0 – Insidious: The Last Key (2018)

Being Film #10 for Hooptober 2024

I’m not going to try and change your mind and say that Insidious: The Last Key is a great movie. The fourth entry in a franchise series is rarely its best. But what I will submit to you is this: by consistently changing up the main baddie (this one has a particularly cool look), by staying further away from mythologizing the universe and – once again – putting the focus on Elise Rainier and her own history, we get a better than I expected entry that has a few deliciously creepy moments, an overall story focusing on a mystery to change up the more straight-up horror elements, and an ending that will finally bring us back to what’s going on with Lambert family if that’s more your thing.

ChrisSeptember 23, 2024September 23, 2024Leave a comment

Reviews

Hooptober 11.0 – Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015)

Being Film #9 for Hooptober 2024

What do you do when there’s no more story to tell? Go back to the beginning, of course, and that’s where Leigh Whannell heads for his directorial debut in Insidious: Chapter 3. It’s clear from the start where Whannell’s heart lies wit regards to his characters, and if that means we get a somewhat thin story that basically equates to “girl haunted by malevolent ghost” that relies more on jump scares than nay other entry in the series thus far, it’s okay because what we’re turning in for is something we weren’t expecting: the transformation of Elise Rainier into a superhero.

ChrisSeptember 22, 2024Leave a comment

Reviews

Hooptober 11.0 – Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)

Being Film #8 for Hooptober 2024

Three years later everyone returns to continue the adventures of the Lambert family and their connection to The Further in Insidious: Chapter 2, picking up right where the original left off. It has a gigantic hurdle in figuring out how to stay fresh when you have to out of necessity do more telling rather than rely on the freshness of showing, and Wan and Whannell’s choice is to dig deeper into the mythology and Josh Lambert’s (Patrick Wilson) connection to the The Further and the mysterious old woman briefly introduced in the first film. It makes for a very solid, if for me slightly underwhelming sequel that nonetheless has more than a few moments and scares to make it a worthwhile trip…

ChrisSeptember 22, 2024Leave a comment

Reviews

Hooptober 11.0 – Insidious (2010)

Being Film #7 for Hooptober 2024

I’m ashamed it took this many years to realize how close the phrase “inside of us” looks like the title of Insidious, the first holy shit crackerjack film in the now-ended franchise from James Wan and Leigh Whannell creators of the Saw phenomenon. I was never a big fan of that franchise, stalling out after the second film, but this? And it’s PG-13? Next to Poltergeist this is the scariest PG-13 film I’ve ever seen. Just crackling with energy and fun.

ChrisSeptember 20, 2024September 22, 2024Leave a comment

Cinema Dual (TEST SITE)

Examining a life through the media we consume. In other words, I’m reviewing all of my physical music media in alphabetical order, one day at at a time. Except when I don’t, as has been the case for the past few years. Still, we march onwards…Coffee essential, but not mandatory

Tag: series

Hooptober 11.0 – Insidious: The Red Door (2023)

Hooptober 11.0 – Insidious: The Last Key (2018)

Hooptober 11.0 – Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015)

Hooptober 11.0 – Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)

Hooptober 11.0 – Insidious (2010)