Classic Ghost Story with Some Great Scares

Rating: Null/10 (9 May 2011)

Insidious (2010)
*** (out of 4)
A father and mother (Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne) are heartbroken when their son falls asleep and never wakes up. It's not a coma but the doctors aren't sure what's going on with him but soon the family start to witness various ghostly figures in their house. When I heard the plot for INSIDIOUS I pretty much wrote it off as yet another haunted house flick but I'm really grateful that I decided to go watch it. I'll be honest and admit that I love ghost stories whether they're in a movie or on something like Unsolved Mysteries. I love them because they really do have a genuine way to be terrifying but quite often they just fall flat on their faces by trying to do way too much. That's not the case here because there are several moments that are so chilling and flat-out scary that you'll be having a wonderful time feeling your body heat lower to pure chills. There were several times in this film where I was rather hot sitting in the theater but something would happen and I ended up pretty much curled up in cold chills. I was really surprised when I saw director Wan's name appear because he's certainly a king of excess, which he showed with SAW but I was happy to see him take the less is more approach here. I'm certainly not going to ruin any of the twists in the story or give away what's wrong with the kid but let's just say there are several ghosts who appear and at times the intensity level is almost too much. Again, I won't ruin the scene but there's one that involves a baby crib that really felt as if someone came up from behind you and stuck a knife in your back. I'm sure if you took a comb over the "events" in the movie and the explanation we're given then you could rip the film apart. I think it's fair to say that the movie starts off rather slow and the character development at the start really doesn't do much. I would probably also say that the ended isn't as strong as the stuff leading up to it. I'm sure you could attack a few of the camera shots that are a little too stylish for their own good. You could do all of that stuff but you'd be missing the point because people go into a film like INSIDIOUS to be scared and the movie succeeds on that level. Again, there are several scenes that will turn your blood ice cold. The ghostly images are quite frightening and if you believe in such things they're going to be even more effective. The importance of a film like this is to build up dread and atmosphere and director Wan does both of these things very good. You have an old creepy house. You have lights that don't work as they should. You have floors that crackle and pop with each step. You have a dark attic. All of these elements are in the Ghost Story 101 handbook but it's what you do with them that's important and director Wan puts them all together and delivers a very effective movie. The performances by Wilson and Byrne are exceptionally strong to where you believe they are actually dealing with these events and we get strong supporting work by Barbara Hershey and Lin Shaye.