Excellent Chiller.

Rating: 9/10 (1 May 2011)

When their young son is injured in a fall, mysterious and terrifying events start to happen to a young family...
Horror films, especially recent films from America have become obsessed with violence and gore. The so-called 'torture-porn' horror. There is also an obsession with remaking or 're-booting' films to try and make money from the horror film franchises, like the recent Nightmare On Elm Street. However, what Insidious proves, is that by writing something clever and serious, you can make a new and scary horror film.
The key to the success of Insidious is that on the whole the cast play it straight. The cast led by Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne are all good. It helps that the script, written by Leigh Whannell, while in truth not the most original, taking elements from films such as Poltergeist, it does enough with these elements to work on it's on level. It also helps having James Wan directing. Although still best known for making the first (and best) Saw film, he has made some interesting films since, Death Sentence being one, and Dead Silence which has a similar feel to Insidious.
While Wan may not be a high profile director, he does an excellent job here. He creates an atmosphere of tension throughout, including some excellent scares in daylight, a rare feat indeed! And while he does use the 'jump' scare technique, it works very well. Even at the climax of the film, which is a little predictable, he stages a chilling ending.
There are faults. The ending does go a bit overboard, loosening the tension created up till that point, and a couple of paranormal investigators bring some unwanted comic relief.
But these are minor issues. Whannell and Wan have created a truly unsettling horror film, and one that pretty much succeeds on every level. It takes a lot to scare me when I go see a film. The only ones that can, are those that create the right atmosphere. Most films don't manage that. This does easily. And it did scare me.
This is easily one of the best recent horror films I've seen and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys being scared.