Promising start but intensity spoiled half way through by unoriginal tropes and poorly conceived images.

Rating: 5/10 (28 November 2015)

Insidious is one of those movies I avoided. I don't jump on fads. I am very hipster when things don't fit into my nerd realm. That goes hardcore for movies. Insidious was one of those scary movies that came out and blew up. I hated this trend of the next scary movie banking at the box office when my idea of real horror was passed over. It seemed like every year there was a new scary movie or a sequel to a new scary movie. They were all a year or two years apart. Have to bank on that hype right? Right from the start I was going in with a negative sense of view. But I thought that if I was watching it then there was something about it that appealed to me. The film stars Patrick Wilson and Rose Bryne as loving parents who start experiencing odd occurrences in their new home. When the events escalate they move to a new house and realize there is something more involved. It's a haunted house story with a 'twist'. From the start of the film you can tell even with the budget James Wan as a director is talented.
It is the exact duo that brought us the Saw franchise. James Wan is behind the lens with Leigh Whannell writing and acting. Technically the film looks great. There are some inventive shots and the ending haunt is staged very well. But the story feel like it's been done before. There are all sorts of elements from multiple haunted house films. If a film could be called a mash up I would give this film that title. Wilson and Bryne do their best with that they have. The story fails them. When things start to ramp up everything of the why is explained by a newly emerged character.
There is a back story to why this is all happen. This is not explained until nearly the end of the film. It's newly introduced characters that wrap up everything in a nice tight package. Some of the back story is shown but not much. It would have been nice if these piece of the story were scattered throughout the entire film. I wasn't really scared as the 'boo' scares weren't stage that well. It was more of putting things for the audience to jump instead of building tension. The most entertaining and well executed sequence was the ending.
There was a nice twist at the end that on it's own would have sat very well. But knowing that there is a sequel comes off as strategically place for a sequel to be made. There is just too much hype surround this film and for me it didn't (never had the chance) to live up to it. Seeing Sinister and The Conjuring (from James Wan) I know there are good haunted house films out there that live up to the hype. I can only describe this film with a quote taken from a user on Reddit, "I think the reason so many people like it and praise it is because it is so bland; it feels safe. It's the movie the average moviegoer can go to, not get too scared, but still say that they love a horror movie." Well said.