Definitely an insidious horror film

Rating: 8/10 (10 April 2011)

You definitely get what you pay for when you see Insidious. Loud booms, a unique premise, and quite a few good scares. It's definitely one of the better horror films I've seen in recent years. It beats the remakes of Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street by a long shot, but still doesn't match the intensity brought in a film like Frozen.
The plot: Renai and Josh Lambert (Byrne and Wilson) and their three kids move into a new house which looks like it was built some time in the good ol' days. The eldest of the three kids, Dalton (Simpkins) ventures up to the attic to explore resulting in him falling off a ladder and hurting himself. When Josh can't wake Dalton up the next morning, he takes him to the hospital where we find out Dalton is in a coma after he hit his head when falling off the ladder.
After three months, Dalton still hasn't woken up. He is now in The Lamberts' home for in home care. Now a number of paranormal events have been occurring. Renai starts to see different men at night, some resembling demons, and others looking like intruders. It begins to be a nightmare for the whole family.
I don't want to go into too much of the story because I feel the less you know going into it the better. I saw this because I heard a few people online say "it's the scariest film I've seen in years." I thought I'd see it on the big screen to top it off. It was very effective and very eerie in it's own right, but not a lot is accomplished in it's hundred and two minute run time.
We never get a lot of questions answered in the film. It's almost like Battle: Los Angeles. Why is the audience bribed of information? Many don't care, but for someone like me, I want to know pretty much every answer to my questions. But it's a horror film. I must really sound stupid for wanting background information.
Insidious is not a slice 'em dice 'em fest so don't go in expecting "From the MAKERS of Paranormal Activity and Saw" to go very far. Director James Wan took a little paranormal twist with this and doesn't give us tiresome torture porn or bangs and booms as main scares. He adds bite to his bark.
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, Andrew Astor, and Leigh Whannell. Directed by: James Wan.