Insidious As It Sounds

Rating: 9/10 (15 September 2013)

I love horror movies. It's not much of a secret. However, it's not every day (and I see a new one just about every day) that I can say I saw a movie that truly struck me as being terrifying. I look at film from a more objective standpoint; it's hard for me to "live" in a film for its duration, to really see the film through a character's eyes. However, I try to look at what a more "traditional" audience member may see, and with this film, "Insidious: Chapter 2," the sights range from comical to the true stuff that nightmares are made of. To give one a quick clue as to the minds behind this film, it was worked by "Paranormal Activity" mastermind Oren Peli, and was directed by Asian-Australian horror sicko, James Wan, who is best known for his work on "Saw I" and, more recently, "The Conjuring." The film starts within minutes of where the first film (2011's "Insidious") left off, and carries on further to explain the (extremely bizarre, and unexpected) story of the old woman who haunts father-protagonist Josh. I am limited as to what I can say without providing spoilers, but I will say that this storyline is one of the main focal points of the film, and that the story also involves a young boy and his mother.
That being said, I absolutely must take a moment to talk about this boy's mother. Once again, limiting my "spoilers" is difficult for this film, but his mother is, in the trailers for the film, the woman in the white dress seen sitting on a couch. This character, played by the excellent Danielle Bisutti (known for occasional appearances on Grey's Anatomy and NCIS), could easily make the case for this movie receiving an R rating, rather than its standing PG-13. Her sequences were obviously crafted to be the focal scare-point of the film, as her quick and well-concocted appearances, laced with the Insidious-signature dissonant (and screechingly loud, intended to cause actual discomfort) orchestral strings, are most effective at driving home the point of the movie, which is all-out psychological, sensory-overloading, mostly non-violent terror. The few gory/violent scenes can be quite intense.
My last topic of review on this film is its rating, which I honestly believe is inaccurate. The film is rated PG-13 for "intense scenes of terror, graphic gore, and language." NowI've seen over 200 horror movies, from box office smashes to high school film projects, and films from today, and dating back as far as 1922, and I am 100 percent certain that some of the horror scenes presented here are in, if not beyond, the league of The Exorcist, which is often found at the top of "scariest film" lists everywhere. The gore is not "brutal" in the sense of the torture-fest "Saw" series, but it does include several blood-heavy moments, as well as one scene of a spiritually-possessed man injuring his wife, which may be too shocking for some viewers.
Overall, this writer would give the movie a resounding 9.5/10. The movie accomplishes its purpose effectively, and goes far, far beyond the scope of today's horror films. With the box office horror hit "The Conjuring" under his belt, along with the new terror of "Insidious: Chapter 2," it can safely be said that director James Wan is THE horror director to watch in the coming seasons.
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