'Insidious: Chapter 3' - Movie Review

'Insidious: Chapter 3'
A; Horror/Thriller
Director: Leigh Whannell
Cast: Dermot Mulroney, Stefanie Scott, Lin Shaye, Angus Sampson
Rating:

The 'Saw' series proved something noteworthy - that James Wan had created something extraordinary in the original movie, and had sold out in a big way by cranking out seven sequels for seven years which were each less impressive than the previous films. Calling them less impressive is still giving them a lot of credit because they flat out sucked. Around that time another series called 'Paranormal Activity' began mushrooming, also delivering a sequel every year that was worse than its original.

Watch the trailer of 'Insidious: Chapter 3'

It seems everyone involved with all of these films learned a thing or two about maintaining quality along with quantity, because the new film co-produced by Jason Blum, James Wan and Oren Peli, 'Insidious: Chapter 3' is better than expected. This third installment in the 'Poltergeist' like series serves as a prequel, wherein we're introduced to the most interesting characters in the movies - the professional psychic Elise (played by Lin Shaye) and clumsy duo of Tucker (Angus Simpson) and Specs (Leigh Whannell).

This time the story takes place in a baroque apartment resided by Quinn (Stefanie Scott) and her dad (Dermot Mulroney) where she's trying to make contact with her dead mother but ends up being tormented by an evil spirit trying to possess her. It's clichéd as hell, but the 'Insidious' movies have never been about originality in their stories, they're all about delivering original and genuine scares. And on that front this film works very well - the familiar dark blue lighting and hair-raising music is back, and so are the incredibly slow and quiet buildups to the 'boo' moment. First time director Whannell does well to replicate James Wan's direction of the scary moments by making them integral to the plot, and not just cheap gimmicks thrown in for the sake of horror.

There are various moments in the film that are bound to leave you cringing in your seat out of fear, and it helps that we don't get to see the full figure of the evil spirit until the very end. Doing this makes the viewer imagine how scary the monster is, which is way more effective. The moment the monster makes his entry in full form, however, the film loses a bit of steam in the end. There are also a few overemotional moments that are not badly directed per se but seem unnecessary in a series about no nonsense spooky mayhem. If horror whets your appetite you can hardly go wrong with 'Insidious: Chapter 3' - it's not often that a good horror film hits theaters, so make the most of it.