Insidious is creepy. It is a boo! film. And it does not live up to the hype. Insidious is about a family who move into a new house and start experiencing disturbances. They start out benign at first but get gradually more intense. Then, the oldest boy, 8-year-old Dalton, falls into a mysterious coma. We find he can project his body astrally and a malignant demon is trying to take over his physical body while Dalton is trapped In the astral universe. His father, who can also travel astrally goes to rescue him, a conflict in the astral and real worlds ensues.
So, as I said before, Insidious is a boo! film. A bunch of things jump out and say "Boo!". There is nothing particularly terrifying about it. The quote from a critic on the poster says it is the scariest film since The Exorcist. Nothing can be further from the truth. Either he is a grade-A wuss or just has not seen that many horror films. Now don't misunderstand. There is nothing wrong with the film. If you want some quick shocks, it is perfectly fine. The film is creepy, atmospheric, and will make you jump. But real terror? It would be like comparing Wolfgang Puck's finest feast to a Happy Meal. Insidious is satisfying and great for a quick fix of shocks. There is nothing particularly wrong with the story, the monsters, and the family is quite likable. But it doesn't truly terrify as a movie like The Exorcist or The Omen has the power to do. Like its PG-13 rating, Insidious is trying to be a grown-up like its superior cousins and falls way short of the mark. And by the way, when did horror films become PG-13? The fact that the filmmakers (or studio) felt they had to compromise the horrors to make it more inclusive to a larger audience (and therefore, more profitable), should be a huge clue as to how strong they thought the material stands on its own. Horror is not meant for younger audiences. Let's stop trying to make it so.
Real horror is usually steeped in something we do not know, ie the unknown. New ground, themes, etc, is what makes a truly unforgettable horror film. Insidious certainly had its share of scary imagery and surprises, but there is nothing really new about them. Now, while astral projection has been used as a plot device before in superior movies like Poltergeist, this movie did add one new wrinkle. That is, we finally get to see the other side of the universe. While movies like Pan's Labyrinth, Hellraiser, and The Cell have attempted to portray this, it is fertile ground for exploitation and I would like to see more attempts because there, anything goes.
So, see this film if you want to have a quickie scare, but don't expect much more than that.
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