A good, solid spook show.

Rating: 7/10 (19 October 2013)

"Insidious", at first glance, seems like it might just be a retread of the classic films that influenced it, such as "Poltergeist" (obviously) and "The Entity". (It even has actress Barbara Hershey, who'd starred in the latter film.) But fortunately screenwriter / co-star Leigh Whannell and director James Wan do some interesting things with the premise, and prevent it from becoming a cheese fest. They create some bona fide atmosphere and chills here; "Insidious" is definitely for the horror fan bemoaning the focus on gore and cheap thrills in more recent genre fare. It's got a number of "jump" moments, but they actually work, most of the time, because they're not expected. And it's all acted with the utmost sincerity by a good cast.
Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne star as Josh and Renai Lambert, a young couple settling into their new house with two boys and an infant girl in tow. After the son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) takes a spill in the attic, he soon slips into what seems to be a coma but is something different altogether. After supernatural experiences begin to be too much for Renai to bear, Josh's mother Lorraine (Hershey) calls in a medium friend of hers named Elise (horror veteran Lin Shaye). But things only get worse after that. Josh learns that it's up to him to resolve matters.
Whannell (who plays the part of "Specs") and Wan deserve some credit for creating a film that genuinely manages to creep a viewer out. Wan takes his time, doling out the imagery carefully, bit by bit, until the big finale where an alternate dimension dubbed by Elise as "The Further" must be entered. And even when the story requires its primary demon (played by Joseph Bishara, the films' composer) to be shown a little more, the character doesn't lose that much effectiveness. Certainly one successful element is the convincing enough creation of disturbing surrealism in many scenes. (And the song "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" is made even more creepy than it already was.) Wilson and Byrne are easy to sympathize with as the parents, and it's always a delight to see Shaye and Hershey in anything. Child actor Simpkins does alright in his role.
Clearly, the film is designed to end the way that it does in order to set up the sequel, but it does leave one wanting more.
Seven out of 10.