Some clever and big scares, let down with lazy plot

Rating: 7/10 (26 February 2012)

With the 'saw' franchise at its (depressing and three dimensional) end, a horror sized hole in Hollywood has been created. With insidious hoping to fill it. Insidious follows the story of a family who are looking to prevent evil spirits from trapping their comatose child in a realm called 'the further'. With quite a unique concept does insidious deliver? and above all, scare?
The effective technique to 'show as little of the villain as possible' in a horror film applies to Insidious all too much. This isn't a problem for the 1st half of the film, as the majority of the first 45 minutes doesn't include the main bad guy only his 'ghost henchmen'. When the main villain is eventually revealed to us the shocking effect of his first appearance quickly wears of, as he is showed time and time again. If they had just held back his screen time he would have been much more scary and shocking. Unfortunately this villain who was supposed to be the main centerpiece of the scares turns out the be the main centerpiece of the laughs.Saying that, I thought that some scenes where absolutely terrifying, showing sparks of genius at times.Especially at one point, which has to be one of the most unsettling scenes in horror film history ( in my opinion) I won' spoil it, all i'll say is 'tiptoe through the tulips'! The scares are partly down to tempo of the film, it takes a while to get started but once it does the scares hit hard in some clever sequences, this creates a really tense atmosphere that had me in hysterics. However i couldn't help but feel let down after the film as the terrific scares in this film are ruined by the ridiculous and unrealistic plot. As the plot gets more and more silly throughout the film, new characters are added, which just increases my annoyance! 3 characters enter the film who provide no scares or suspense whatsoever, they just drag the film down and pull the viewers away from the suspense by providing awful comedic value.
This film provided terrifying moments at times, but the disappointing lack of realistic plot dragged the film down. If this film had maintained its suspense that was created by the 'ghosts' in around the 45 minute mark, this film would be a real winner and one worthy of attention.
I want to give this film a 8 stars but the lack of plot, silly characters and unconvincing, tame bad guy means that i have to give this film a 7.
Calum. Russell