Disappointing

Rating: 4/10 (8 May 2011)

As a dedicated horror fan and a fan of the original Paranormal Activity, this film just didn't have the lasting appeal I thought it would, in fact, I walked away from it wondering what was the best way to relieve my bored mood.
See the thing is, I'm all for scare tactics (despite the fact they never work on me) and there isn't a horror movie I haven't watched and despite not finding scary, enjoyed none the less, take The Grudge for example (Let us not speak of the third one), while I didn't find the The Grudge scary, I did at least find it entertaining, Insidious on the other hand was not, I didn't consider it to be scary, nor did I consider it to be entertaining. There were a few 'when things go bump in the night' scenes which were okay at best, but the whole scare factor is lost because you already know what the cause of it is, and quite frankly, knowing what is causing the haunting as well as the fact they mean no harm, just makes things a little less scary or interesting.
The scare factor of Paranormal Activity is in the fact that something is stalking our main characters, we know not what, but it means harm and is willing to kill anyone that intervenes, this just makes it seem all the more fear-worthy.
I'm also a person of subtle fear tactics, while I don't mind the loud sudden "boo!" effects, I believe that subtle things, like the lights going on and off down the hallway in the Grudge 2, the footprints on the floor and lights down the hallway switching on and off in Paranormal Activity, the dark ghosts prowling on the ceiling and walking up behind a certain girl in The Messengers, etc were all scary and superb in their own rights and if a movie can keep that up right to the end, its all the more enjoyable, the cherry on top being a superb resolution to the issue.
Unfortunately insidious had none of these with it's most entertaining scene coming from certain ghost hunter revealing (not really) what we already knew because it's all over the front cover, to which I thought, "Oh really? Fancy that ey, that sounds like a problem no one has ever solved, how are you going to solve it?" To which they did......need I say more.