Insidious (2010)

Rating: 6/10 (13 December 2011)

James Wan and Leigh Whannell return with a love letter to the haunted house genre. If you are well versed in cinema there will be very little to surprise you at first. Books off the bookcase, baby monitors, looking through cameras etc. The build up is impressive, but too familiar. Lingering shots down long corridors, cutting to each family member sleeping (plus a leaky faucet). It gets tiring after a while, as you can predict when things will or wont happen. When stuff does happen, it can be very effective. The first major attack was awesome, but it quickly gets annoying at the stupid actions of characters. Never do they call a specialist for their comatose son, they never call the police etc. They seem to accept the fact it's a haunting just so the film can move faster. We also get some contradictions in character, where Wilson is all brave and checking out the house, and then he stops coming home at night.
The film often jumps into the unexpected. With some subtle scares that people may not even notice. This is when it works best, as the camera moves around and there are images to notice but are not pointed out. Many times it became a great movie, but then quickly dropped down into an average horror. I respect the practical effects, and the restraint on gore, and for the kind of horror it is, this is done very well. It's creepy, and then Darth Maul turns up. It goes from haunted house to paranormal fantasy. But would I ever watch it again? Probably so.