Poltergeist homage with Spirit.

Rating: Null/10 (31 July 2011)

A malevolent and insidious demon causes a couple havoc when their son falls into a coma and can only be help by a medium and her team.
James Wan notable writer director of Saw brings the drama of his directing effort Death Sentence (2007) and the macabre visuals of Dead Silence(2007) into one creep-fest of a film.
Building on the aforementioned and borrowing from heavily from Poltergeist (1982) Wan and writer Leigh Whannell throw in every supernatural cliché from ghostly photos, boys with caps, dead brides, old hags, evil drawings, mediums and paranormal investigators to name a few. However, talented Wan manges to infuses life into a well trodden subject leaving other haunted movies behind as he crafts his own modern version that pays tribute instead of trying to reinvent it.
The set design and locations are what you'd expect with the first third of the film set in an old house, complete with a dusty attic and creaky stairs but then the setting moves to a suburban house placing the viewer in a safer environment and false state of security, reminiscent of Poltergeist and Paranomal Activity (2007).
Patrick Wilson is adequate as the trouble father and Rose Byrne is excellent as wife Renai. The film looses it's edge in the second half as Wilson takes the helm, Byrne is the stronger of the two but is left with little to do or say and the weight of the film suffers as a result. The small cast works well and credit should go to both Lin Shaye as the medium Elise Rainier and Barbara Hershey in their supporting roles.
Joseph Bishara's music score is exceptionally creepy and the lighting, make-up of the ghostly faces is enough to give some nightmares. What works well is that while there are CGI shots they are well designed and hardly a distracting.
There's few story surprises but lots of well built up jumps and from start to finish Insidious should send shivers down your spine, making the hairs on your neck stand. It's no Shining (1980) but it's one of the best popcorn haunting cocktails in a longtime.