Insidious (2011)

Insidious is classic horror. It features a haunted house, dead ghosts, and the forgotten use of light. It doesn’t rely on that CGI’d shit that has managed to kill the horror genre we watch today. One instance where this holds true tremendously is when the mother is doing chores around the house, if you pay attention, you can see a little boy in the room just watching her. He is not floating around, not screaming with a modified voice, nor does he have some fake looking feature. He is merely a boy just sitting there watching her. He may not be scary, but the fact that he is sitting there just watching her is. It’s in this department that Insidious thrives in.

The story itself is a tale of two halves. The first part is the best; it’s a classic haunted house tale that clicks in every way. It scares the shit out of you, features a well-paced plot, and has a path of unpredictability. At the midmarker, it was well on its way to being a truly classic horror film. Then the second half came and all originality went out the window. The haunted house and ghosts went away, and instead Freddy Kruger and his boiler room decided to make an appearance. Technically, they didn’t, but the demon behind everything is first seen sharpening the claws on his right hand while he essentially sits in what is a boiler room. It is hard to believe that this was the same movie as the first 60 minutes. Two complete opposite in tone and direction, which just did not go well together.

Horror films never ask much of their cast, but they were impressive hear. Patrick Wilson continues to impress me with yet another memorable performance. His wife Rose Byrne is more than just a pretty face. She sets herself up for the audience to be with her during all this mayhem, rather than watching her be tormented. The scene stealers though come from the extraction crew. Lin Shaye turns an extremely cheesy role into something that is serious and memorable. Her two employees provide the only laughs, which came at a much needed spot in the second half. It was a pleasant surprise to see the actors match the horror quality. It’s too bad the entire story didn’t follow suit.

Insidious is gold to fans of true horror. It uses classic tactics to get a jump out of you. Its tiny budget works out perfectly for this. That smaller budget made them be creative with the film and for the first 60 minutes it was fantastic. The second half may not be as bad as I claim it to be, but it just disgusted me how something so creative could fall off a cliff so fast. If you are looking for an entertaining horror flick, stop right here. You’ve found it, but if you look at the film in the same view I did, you will see it could have been an overall great movie, rather than just a solid horror film.   

Overall Score: 6/10