Scary and Insidious

Rating: 9/10 (7 April 2011)

Full disclosure: This is not an objective review. On the third of every month, I sacrifice a bullock without blemish to Patrick Wilson. That said, I would have liked this movie no matter who was had the lead roles. It is genuinely scary and uses horror conventions with insidious skill toward an ending that is both entertaining and unsettling. The humorous scenes are genuinely funny. I loved the way the movie turned "Tiptoe through the Tulips" into a counterpart to Schubert's Erl-King. The acting from both the leads and the character actors is excellent, especially the elderly exorcist. Wilson gives a selfless, rigorously character-based performance, and Byrne is moving as the grief-stricken mother. Insidious shows how our mood and sensibility has changed since Poltergeist was on the screen.