Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Nov 22, 2023 20:37:05 GMT -5
Insidious: The Red Door(11/8/2023)  I was pretty into the Insidious series when it first started. Not, like, into it to the point where I showed up to see any of them in theaters but I did think that original movie was one of the best of the “2010s ghost jump scare” movies and it set up a universe that was interesting enough to sustain three sequels of mostly passable quality. Then after 2018’s Insidious: The Last Key the series just sort of petered out. Five years of inactivity might seem like a normal enough pause for a more expensive franchise, but the norm for these kinds of cheap horror series is to crank out the sequels at an almost annual rate lest the public lose interest. However, this belated sequel proved to be a pretty big financial success so maybe that conventional wisdom is misguided. Personally though I think the wait did affect my experience with it as my memories of those earlier movies, and especially the first two movies for which this is a direct sequel, have become increasingly hazy and picking things back up was a little harder than I expected. This sequel was actually directed by Patrick Wilson and marks a return of his character to the series after two prequels focused on the Lin Shaye character, who is mostly absent here. The film is oddly character focused, something that I think I might have appreciated more if I remembered anything about these characters or still particularly cared about them. And given that I didn’t particularly remember or acre about them I have to question how much I actually wanted another one of these movies and I’m thinking maybe I didn’t. Maybe if it broke some more ground with it’s horror/ghost/monster elements I’d have been a bit more interested but mostly all that just seemed like a retread of the older movies using a horror playbook that we’ve become tired of generally. Maybe they should have waited even longer to make this sequel so that a bit more nostalgia could be built up, or maybe they just shouldn’t have bothered. **1/2 out of Five |
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PG Cooper
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Join Date: Feb 2009
And those who tasted the bite of his sword named him...The DOOM Slayer
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Post by PG Cooper on Nov 23, 2023 11:53:23 GMT -5
The summer of 2023 so the return of the Insidious franchise after a five year absence, directed by series star Patrick Wilson, to a resounding thud. Box-office wise the film has been a sizeable hit, but critics have been far less kind, including the kind of critics more likely to champion a horror franchise entry like this. I guess I'm the odd one out because I rather liked The Red Door. I think it's easily the best Insidious movie since James Wan left the series and a rather successful piece of studio horror filmmaking, in no small part because of Wilson's direction. The film's style certainly doesn't drift far from what's already been established and it certainly doesn't shy away from your typical jump-scares, but it doesn't rely on them. Wilson puts in the work to generate an uneasy atmosphere and delivers with a series of horror set-pieces. For all the overt demons and ghosts and grossness, the most chilling aspect of Insidious: The Red Door are the recurring shots where something out of focus in the background slowly creeping towards the camera and the characters in the foreground. One Wilson eventually indulges in the more outlandish, it is earned, a climax to a build-up rather than just a sudden jolt in a sea of nothing.
I was also pretty into the story. I can't say my memories of the old Insidious movies were too concerned with the characters, but seeing how the Lambert family has changed (and kind of fallen apart) since 2013 proved rewarding enough, especially how Josh and his son Dalton's relationship has deteriorated. I also appreciated how the ending allowed the story to come to a natural conclusion rather than throwing in a last-minute jump-scare to supposedly leave audiences looking for some frights satisfied.
That's not to say the writing is perfect or even great. While I quite enjoyed Sinclair Daniel's performance as a friend Dalton makes in college, her character does feel a bit more like a convenient plot device than a fully formed person. There's also a comical frat boy character who both overstays his welcome and is also thrown aside just when it felt like he was going to become important. I also would have cut Elise's first appearance as her final scene would have been way more impactful if it was the only time we saw her. Overall though, I rather enjoyed Insidious: The Red Door. It's an effective piece of mainstream horror filmmaking and I'm a bit surprised its reception has been so weak. It's clearly better than Insidious 3 or 4 if nothing else.
B-
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