The Back To The Future 2 of Horror

Rating: Null/10 (6 July 2016)

Tobe Hooper made the often-cited scariest movie ever made, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. For twelve years, fans demanded more but how could Hooper top what was claimed perfection? A balls to the wall parody of the original was the only way to find new insanity.
Horror tag team Wan and Whannell struck the same success, almost 100 times profit on their budget. Insidious 2 was a no-brainer and although they don't go for broke like Hooper, this sequel possesses the formula of the original with entirely bizarre new life. Constantly teasing those similar moments of cleverness found in the first Saw, Insidious 2 addresses the first and instills new meaning behind some of the scares.
Much like the first, there is an even more apparent mix of warm familiarity and strange originality. Working with classic conventions of haunted houses and possessions, the Insidious films have an old school feeling. Not just reminiscent of the similar Poltergeist but even further back to Méliès and Wiene surreal theatrics of silent horrors. Even if you aren't part of the masses who jump at every piercing stinger of the dilapidated score, there are plenty of kooky visuals that make exploring the afterlife fun.
As for the story, this is where the sequel falls short of the initial success in less is more. If you were critical on that third act turn to more Beetlejuice-esque antics, then this one delivers that in spades. With multiple stories all interweaving through time and worlds, the intense engagement of the first is diminished noticeably. While unabashedly fun, it becomes harder to relate to the continued hauntings of the Lamberts.
Patrick Wilson is delightfully hammy, genuinely performing as if he were a spirit excited to torment people once again in the living world. Unfortunately, his standout delivery leaves the always wonderful Rose Byrne and the rest of the cast looking clueless as to his not-so- secret condition.
The elegant subtitle of Chapter 2 perfectly encapsulates the film. Very much a straight-forward continuation of the first Insidious, but building on fresh and entertaining elements only introduced late into Chapter 1.