Fanaticalaboutfilms Review: Insidious

Rating: 7/10 (3 May 2011)

Now if there is one thing that freaks me out most in movies it is horrors that involve children in any way. So when I sat down to watch a movie from the guys and gals that have given us Paranormal Activity revolving around the story of a possessed child, well lets just say I had my diaper at the ready!
Insidious follows a textbook family, the parents- Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne) that have it all as they move into their new suburban house with their 3 beautiful children. However all is not as it seems as one of their sons, Dalton (Ty Simpkins), after slipping off a ladder while exploring in the attic falls into a coma. Strange things then begin to happen as objects move, mysterious voices are heard and you catch things in the corner of your eye. After this activity drives them from their new home they enlist the help of a paranormal psychic Elise (Lin Shaye) and the horrifying truth becomes evident. It is not the house but Dalton that is haunted!
As with most horror movies, I find they only tend to scare me until I know what I'm up against ie. keep the monster hidden and let the suspense/not knowing get me grabbing for my cushion. This movie was similar in that respect with the majority of the scares coming in the first two thirds before it began to fall away slightly. This was more than enough though and will give you the jumps that you are looking for if you decide to go and see it.
Considering what the trailer gives us, I was quite surprised that it took so long to get to the realisation that it was in fact the boy that was possessed rather than where they were living. It is a good 50 minutes to an hour before this is realised which irked me somewhat.
The inclusion of the two bickering paranormal activity assistants was a well thought out idea as it gave a break from trying to scare you, injecting a bit of comedy into the fray and enabled the audience to be lulled into a more relaxed state so that when the next scare came you were off guard and less than ready for it.
Apart from the scary evil entities, horrors are made or broken by the music or lack thereof that accompanies the suspense and the cinematography. Insidious does not disappoint. The music leads to the creation of an intense tension that stays with you throughout most of the movie and lingers after it finishes and the cinematography is also top notch.
Insidious does serve up moments of actual horror that had me keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary several hours after the film had finished. It is a far cry from James Wan (director) and Leigh Whannell (writer) other collaborations of the Saw series and despite using a tried and tested framework, they made the movie original. It will probably be one of the better horror movies that's released this year but then again, I doubt there will be much competition.
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