Mediocrious

Rating: 4/10 (25 July 2013)

I can not understand why so many people give this movie high ratings. In the end, it is bland and utterly predicable, so much so, that I was able to call end around the middle of the movie. Insidious tries nothing new or special, nearly every plot-point seems to be recycled from another horror-movie. The only 'tension' in this movie derives from jump-scares. Even the design of the 'ghosts' are 'slightly creepy' at best; The main antagonist, however, looks like guy in a very elaborate halloween costume.
Although no movie is required to reinvent the wheel, Insidious doesn't juggle its generic plot, production design, special effects and direction good enough to make for a enjoyable movie. Insidious was filmed on a budget of 1.5 million dollar and (ironically) I guess that - in this case - throwing more money at the production would have benefited the movie a lot. Especially the sets and visuals in the final act seemed to be toned down to the bare minimum they had to be, to make the conclusion of the movie work. Because of that, the end feels rather anticlimactic, instead like a pay-off for a long and slow build-up.
This movie will fade away in your mind rather quickly, becoming one with the memory-mush of all the other mediocre movies you know you have seen, but struggle to remember them.