Bad Knockoff of Spielberg's POLTERGEIST

Rating: 1/10 (25 April 2011)

It is very clear that the writer of this film had seen Steven Spielberg's classic horror film Poltergeist because this entire film pulls whole cloth elements from Poltergeist and reworks it to a bastardized version. It is as if this film is written and directed by high school kids who saw Poltergeist and thought it would be cool to make their homage to it with their simplistic understanding of how to create suspense and horror.
For these Insidious writer/director horror to them is a person wearing scary makeup and sudden loud noises...nothing more. Insidious wants to be Poltergiest but ends up doing everything wrong. And its embarrassing to watch.
To no surprise after finding out that this film was made by the people behind Paranormal Activity and Saw i knew right away one would have to check their brain at the door.
For me, i can look by bad acting, poor effects, and amateur-hour directing but if the underlying script is terrible then i am going to bash it. And this my friends is serious high school play writing/directing -- the kind of mess where parents go, sit in the audience and no matter how crappy it is you end up clapping and going home half asleep and thinking about other things.
To be fair and give you an idea of what horror films i like:

Jaws - Poltergeist - American Werewolf in London - Exorcist - Frailty - Tale of two Sisters (foreign film)

It's a small list but they are considered classics by critics and viewers alike (check IMDb's ratings for each). They are so loved because each tells a story in a very realistic way and not looking to cheap tricks for scare value. It's professional storytelling.
I'd love to discuss Insidious in a scene by scene way as to what a disaster the thing is but i doubt anyone will read my review outside of seeing my rating of it. 1/10...
I'd rate this as UNWATCHABLE and spit but IMDb wont let me.
If you are an aspiring screenwriter then watch this film and learn what exactly NOT to do.