Are You Kidding Us?

Rating: 5/10 (10 May 2011)

Midway through "Insidious", James Wan's foray into the haunted house genre, comes a moment so misjudged and tonally out of joint, that a cynic might ponder the real intention of those behind this fitfully scary horror romp. I mention it purely because what has gone on up until this point has been for the most part, effective and enjoyable.
The premise of the upwardly mobile WASP family having their nest hauled apart by forces unseen is hardly groundbreaking territory, but the slow disintegration of this cosy, tad too opulent bubble invites the same hint of schadenfreude that audiences may have felt when spirits trashed designer chic in genre bedfellow "Paranormal Activity". (Notably, director Oren Peli takes the role of producer here)
The restraint Wan uses in the first portion of the film must be applauded. Much like "Paranormal Activity" the key lies in the domestic space and in the seemingly mundane. Our first glimpses of the "other" are brilliantly executed - more often than not we are left in horrible dread - what was it that just marched across the balcony? where in god's name did that child in Victorian dress disappear to?
The zenith of all this creeping tension comes at that most benign of places; at the dining table, (and in broad daylight) a hideous apparition that comes at you in a snarling flash. A knee jerk moment that sets the film at a cracking pace, raising audience expectation to giddy heights.
Such a tragedy it is then that the film dissolves so rapidly into a fairground/video game aesthetic, negating all of the good work gone on before in place of ill-judged, generic thrills that feel as creaky and predictable as the last time you were in a haunted house ride.
To take us back then to the point at which "Insidious" takes that fatal stumble: just when our nerves are suitably raw, we see the introduction of two "ghostbuster" dudes, who trade funnies with each other like extras in a Judd Apatow vehicle. Comic relief is entirely justified and a lot of the time, expected in horror films. The banter here though is on display for too long - the characters come off as too smart, too knowing, thus plunging proceedings into doubt.
When "busting" parafernalia is brought out we snigger, a ripple of derision that picks at all the plausibility carefully in place. When a medium starts to do her thing, (whilst wearing a gas mask no less) those sniggers turn into out and out howls of laughter - the like of which no amount of spooks or kooks could ever hope to dispel.
In short, a great opening 45 minutes followed by a needlessly botched second half. How sad that it is that it should be two of the characters in the film that reveal the smoke and mirrors, from which all of the film's horror emanates.