Not as good as the first, but better than most

Rating: 5/10 (13 September 2013)

Insidious Chapter 2 is no Insidious. After watching the first, (by myself, late at night) I had to watch "The House Bunny" before I could go to bed. While Chapter 2 has the requisite jump scares and ghouls in creepy make-up, the eerie foreboding, unsettling visuals and tense atmosphere that pervaded the first film just aren't as effective. Part of the reason is the sense of "been there done that" that was perhaps inevitable. Many of the gags from the first film are repeated here and there are really only so many ways for Rose Byrne to walk around a giant empty house looking scared. While still effective to an extent, the "punch" is gone (there is, however a nifty retconning of an event from the first film that I enjoyed). Unfortunately,the back half of the film abandons whatever spooky atmosphere it has managed to create, and devolves into a paranormal riff on The Shining (not unlike another Rose Byrne vehicle, "Sunshine", a favorite of mine that is almost ruined by the last 20 minutes, when it turns into a slasher film). Having said all that, Insidious Chapter 2 is still better than 95% of sequels out there and certainly almost any sequel in the horror genre. It mostly just suffers in comparison to the first film (I went to a double feature back-to-back screening which exacerbates the problem). It's a little goofier and the writing/plotting isn't as sharp, but it still manages to drum up some effective scares. If you liked the first one, you'll most likely find something to enjoy in Chapter 2.