To Sleep...Perchance To Travel....

Rating: Null/10 (12 October 2011)

With a production budget of a mere $1.5 million and a worldwide gross at the box office of over $92 million, "Insidious," an independent horror picture, was, famously and surprisingly, the most profitable film of 2011. Written and directed by the same team that created 2004's "Saw" (another hugely popular horror film)--screenwriter Leigh Whannell and director James Wan--the picture is undeniably creepy and should manage to please most genre fans. In it, we meet Renai and Josh Lambert (Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson, both excellent here). The parents of two young sons and a baby daughter, and having just moved into a new luxury home, their lives are upended when their oldest boy, Dalton, slips into a three-month-long coma, and bizarre manifestations start occurring in their house. Convinced that their abode is haunted, the Lamberts move to a new domicile, which, appallingly, only makes matters worse! Fortunately, Josh's mother (nice to see Barbara Hershey, still looking mighty fine, on screen again!) is able to put them in touch with a trio of (what the general population might call) "ghost busters," leading to a battle royale against the clamoring, otherdimensional demons who are attempting to claim Dalton for their own....
In a film with countless chilling moments (and the less said about them, the better, I suppose, for prospective viewers), several stand out: those photographs, for example, and those supercreepy voices heard over the baby monitor (I'm getting a little prickly just thinking about them!). Head "ghost buster" Elise Rainier (well played by Lin Shaye) almost steals the show with her alternately gentle and steely ways, and her two assistants, Specs and Tucker (played by Whannell himself and Angus Sampson), provide what little humor and lightheartedness the film has to offer. Wan, still early in his career, demonstrates that he is already a pro at generating chills and suspense (especially in the film's masterful first third), while Joseph Bishara's discordant/screechy soundtrack is as freaky as they come. "Insidious," it might also be added, makes the best use of a Tiny Tim song (in this case, his late '60s classic "Tiptoe Through the Tulips") since...well, I suppose since Tim sang "There'll Always Be an England" for the Isle of Wight crowd in the "Message to Love" documentary. Indeed, I find that I only have one quibble with this truly unnerving film, which I sincerely regret not having watched on the big screen; namely, many of the scenes--especially toward the end, as Josh explores the "Further"--are woefully underlit. While I'm sure this wasn't an issue in theaters, on a normal television screen, many of the fine and subtle details of this otherdimensional zone might be lost. Still, the film manages to work, even at home. It is assuredly a powerful picture, right to its stunning twist ending, and does have a cumulatively chilling effect. The film turns out to be well named; insidiously, you may find yourself being creeped out before you even know it....