Insidious Review

Rating: 5/10 (12 August 2012)

The first 40 minutes of this film are exceptionally good besides the lead actress's performance. I could tell she was acting, her facial expressions bared no emotion while investigating the noises in the house or the things she saw out of the corner of her eye. Everything in this film is decent (again, aside from the acting) up until the investigation team shows up. From there it goes downhill. The two girls seen while Tucker was looking around with the special lenses in the camera are unbelievably fake and provide no scare whatsoever. The explanation of astral projection seems rushed, as well as when Josh's mother reveals the photos of the old woman that would show up in the background of near every photo token of him. Before the investigation team arrived, this movie was great. Afterwards, not so much. After they take hold of this situation everything seems rushed and loosely put together. Now, another thing that really bothered me while watching this film was the way it was shot. Rather then use a separate camera for shots of (for example) Josh running up the stairs after Renai, it appears that they instead chose to just swing the same camera around and then follow him up the stairs. I felt as if the happenings in this movie where filmed by a guy with a camera, very much like the ones in Paranormal Activity. The ending twist seemed predictable, as I figured that either Josh or Renai would be possessed by one of the demons in the house. I do have mention my favorite scene in the movie. My favorite scene is when Renai is throwing the trash out in the new house, as she walks around the house to the trash can - the music on the record player changes and a little boy is seen dancing to the music. When I saw this, I did jump a little. The designs for the main demon remind me a lot of Darth Mal from the Star Wars films, or rather is facial features. It does provide some good jump scares, and I think the story in decent as well. I'd definitely suggest checking it out.