'Insidious: The Red Door' movie review- Lean but not a mean enough horror effort

Insidious still

Film: Insidious: The Red Door
Cast: Ty Simpkins, Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, Andrew Astor, Hiam Abbass, Sinclair Daniel, Peter Dager
Director: Patrick Wilson
Rating: 2/5
Runtime: 107 min

This film marks the franchises' lead actor Patrick Wilson's directorial debut and the result is not exactly a horror show of remarkable strength but it manages a few middling scares nevertheless. The movie completely depends on the story of the previous installments, so it's obvious the producers (James Wan and Oren Poli) are milking the franchise for all its worth by situating this attempt to gain closure, within the minds of its lead characters.

The script revolves around the Lambert familys' ‘insidious' past which comes back to haunt their present. The symbolic red door that leads deep into the Further is not as bloody red(no visible carnage as such) as one would expect and Josh Lambert and his now estranged teenage son, Dalton's attempts to put their demons to rest once and for all, isn't as interesting as the first couple of franchise entries. Going deeper into The Further than ever before involves facing their family's dark past which they have been hypnotised to forget several years ago.

This is an attempt at generational horror, aka the fifth in the franchise series and tries to blend familiar aspects with new ideas and ambitions. Patrick Wilson from the Conjuring verse takes the lead looking suitably off colour and priming himself to get back to being the family man he was. Sinclair Daniel as "Chris Winslow" lightens up the scenario with a few laughs and Lin Shaye as "Elise Rainier" the creepy old woman from past "Insidious" films makes her eerie presence felt once again. Rose Byrne's Renai is not prominent in this drama though. The visuals and CGI effects are practical and rudimentary rather than fantastic.

Written by Blumhouse favorite Scott Teems with Leigh Whannell assisting with story development, the decision to go for a more narrowed-down story approach after the fiasco of ‘The Last Key,' is well taken. Unfortunately there are not enough creative moody moments to align with that endeavor. The attempt at creating supernaturally charged moments is rather plebeian. Stringing together hallucinations that resemble dark portals of terror, this film has little build-up, suspense or tension. The ending also ends up feeling like an anticlimax. ‘The Red Door' feels more like a drama focused on father-son trauma rather than a fear mongering horror show. Even so, there's hardly any emotional pull and the one-note attempt at scares feels rather rudimentary.