Insidious (Wan, 2011)

[Bosco B Thug]

Okay, this movie deserves its own thread, for people to come in and talk about how STUPID the final five minutes are.

Really? We needed a delayed reveal AND A FLASHBACK TO THREE MINUTES AGO to realize Patrick Wilson is now a saggy old woman deep down inside?? G.T.F.O.


(And I saw the Fright Night remake but shhh confidentiality agreement. What Watashi said. To repeat, SPOILER/EXPECTACTIONS ALERT: It's ok, nothing more, nothing less. It's not bad at all, some good thrills, and actually has a pretty good, somewhat somber [not really] and impressing vampirism = sexual barbarity subtext going on.)

[Watashi]

Ha. I didn't have to sign any confidentiality agreement when I saw it.

[Bosco B Thug]

Ha. I didn't have to sign any confidentiality agreement when I saw it.
Psh, and I'm the one putting my neck out by sigging it.

[eternity]

Summer release date...not yet rated...Fright Night is probably what I have tickets for on Saturday. Working so I can't go, but...yeah, okay.

[soitgoes...]

Okay, this movie deserves its own thread, for people to come in and talk about how STUPID the final five minutes are.

Really? We needed a delayed reveal AND A FLASHBACK TO THREE MINUTES AGO to realize Patrick Wilson is now a saggy old woman deep down inside?? G.T.F.O.


(And I saw the Fright Night remake but shhh confidentiality agreement. What Watashi said. To repeat, SPOILER/EXPECTACTIONS ALERT: It's ok, nothing more, nothing less. It's not bad at all, some good thrills, and actually has a pretty good, somewhat somber [not really] and impressing vampirism = sexual barbarity subtext going on.)
Insidious fell apart halfway through when the family moved. It regained some footing with about twenty minutes remaining, but yeah, the ending was very unnecessary.

[Bosco B Thug]

Insidious fell apart halfway through when the family moved. It regained some footing with about twenty minutes remaining, but yeah, the ending was very unnecessary. The first fifteen minutes lulled me into thinking it might be a well-done film, but I recall that notion being quickly dashed.

I probably agree with you, though my favorite scene incidentally comes at the point in which they move: the daylight haunting scene involving the Tiny Tim record.


Also, my capitalized "stupid" probably comes off a bit too hateful, when really what I feel is astonishment at how completely no where close to scary is Wan and Whannell's idea of scary. :lol:

[Boner M]

I don't even remember how this ended.

[Ivan Drago]

Eh, I haven't seen any previews but from the synopsis it seems cool.

And the Fright Night remake has David Tennant. I'm sold.

[MadMan]

I almost forgot about the Fright Night remake. From what I recall, it has a good cast and could be really awesome. Insidious appears to be decent, so it will probably be a rental at most.

[Stay Puft]

I don't even remember how this ended.

With Leigh Whannell logging into his girlfriend's blogspot account and trolling your review.

[Boner M]

With Leigh Whannell logging into his girlfriend's blogspot account and trolling your review.
Yeah that's kinda overshadowed my memory of anything in the actual film.

Though I still really like the first half. Solid, anything-goes spookfest.

[Ezee E]

I mentioned this in the Yay/Nay thread, but I don't know whether to appreciate that second half or think it's the dumbest thing around.

It abandons the creepiness that the first half had, and instead seems to take a Drag Me To Hell approach... The demon mask and the long haired dude, and the Skeleton Bride are all just goofy when seen. Maybe it looked good on paper, but here, ew... Not creepy in the least.

It was a solid first half, especially when the family gets split apart when Dad goes to inspect the Burglar alarm.

But once it moved to the house, it seemed like a completely different movie. All the way down to the casting of the associates.

[Henry Gale]

I mentioned this in the Yay/Nay thread, but I don't know whether to appreciate that second half or think it's the dumbest thing around.

It abandons the creepiness that the first half had, and instead seems to take a Drag Me To Hell approach... The demon mask and the long haired dude, and the Skeleton Bride are all just goofy when seen. Maybe it looked good on paper, but here, ew... Not creepy in the least.

It was a solid first half, especially when the family gets split apart when Dad goes to inspect the Burglar alarm.

But once it moved to the house, it seemed like a completely different movie. All the way down to the casting of the associates.

Yeah I agree with all of this, except I've still watched it twice and yay'ed it without much hesistation. I think I'm just more positive about the second half than most. Sure it's sillier, but I think most of what brings it down is its budget and lack of adapting its script to better fit what they could realistically execute from it. (Seriously, trying to do what they did here with less money than any one episode of a TV drama is ballsy, but it often shows, especially towards the end with things like the main villain's hideout). Astral projection and demon lairs were probably things that could have been much more exciting with a movie with more than $1 million. But I still liked the ideas behind those things as well as the actors' work and even the ending twist enough to have stayed onboard with it despite how vastly less effective and cheap looking it got towards the end with things you mentioned like the faceoff with the long-haired bouncer dude. It still has a nice, unique atmosphere and I think its attempt to create a safety net of sorts for its change in tone by adding in the deliberate goofy medium assistant characters almost work to lower / shift expectations for the last act, but ultimately, its best stuff still comes before that.

I guess I appreciate it more than I think it's very good, but I'd still watch it again someday and even look forward to a sequel (which seems pretty likely considering the profit this turned).

[megladon8]

I still think the execution of the shock ending was a huge misstep.

The steps they took to get that ending required Patrick Wilson going totally against character, and took me out of it.

Other than that, though, I dug this movie a heck of a lot. I found it very effective.

[Ezee E]

The "surprise ending" is something that I think screws a lot of modern horror movies. It's more comical then anything.

[megladon8]

The "surprise ending" is something that I think screws a lot of modern horror movies. It's more comical then anything.


Everything from the opening title card right to the shock ending seemed to be aping Drag Me To Hell.

I very much feel these two films are cut from the same cloth. They had many of the same ambitions and stylistic flair, attempting retro-energetic modernism in both their narrative and their scare philosophy.

While I do feel that Drag Me to Hell is the superior film, Insidious was the scarier film, and to me that counts for a lot. This film made me think that maybe, just maybe, James Wan isn't a hack after all.

[Ezee E]

Everything from the opening title card right to the shock ending seemed to be aping Drag Me To Hell.

I very much feel these two films are cut from the same cloth. They had many of the same ambitions and stylistic flair, attempting retro-energetic modernism in both their narrative and their scare philosophy.

While I do feel that Drag Me to Hell is the superior film, Insidious was the scarier film, and to me that counts for a lot. This film made me think that maybe, just maybe, James Wan isn't a hack after all.
Insidious is the scarier movie, but where Drag Me To Hell intends to be funny, I think Insidious just comes across as corny, and failiing to live up to its effectively creepy first half.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Saw this. Dug it. I agree with most that the shock ending at the end was pretty needless, and the whole Further sequence wasn't as creepy as the initial hour. Then again, there aren't many haunted house movies that half a second half equal to the first half. Quieter, more unnerving scares are more pleasurable than the Loud Noises! variety of scares. I suppose that things need to escalate.

I loved the moment when the one ghost hunter used the glorified viewmaster to hunt for electric signatures. I initially wondered why the hell anybody would use such a device. Then I realized: that device lets the filmmakers have a fantastic scene that (a) apes color-tinting in silent films, (b) allows for a "continuous" POV shot with hidden cuts, and (c) offers a really satisfying sound design with the PLOCK as the guy switches colors.

It's the little things.

[Rowland]

Speaking of the Further, while the sequence is a mixed bag as a whole (it's pretty goofy when he wrestles Trent Reznor in the attic), I rather liked the bit in the house with the Eisenhower-era family captured in a tableau vivant, playing on the theme of suburban anxiety established in the first act, which reaches its conclusion with the identity twist, when the wife discovers that her husband is no longer the man she once loved.

And while it's true that the film does rely on some loud-noise scares, Reverse Shot's Michael Koresky made a point in his review for Film Comment that Wan doesn't resort to a single false scare in the film, which is to say that when there are loud noises, they are purely in the service of horror-related imagery, rather than the likes of cats jumping out of cupboards, people appearing out of nowhere, or what have you, which I thought was a pretty fair observation.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Speaking of the Further, while the sequence is a mixed bag as a whole (it's pretty goofy when he wrestles Trent Reznor in the attic), I rather liked the bit in the house with the Eisenhower-era family captured in a tableau vivant, playing on the theme of suburban anxiety established in the first act, which reaches its conclusion with the identity twist, when the wife discovers that her husband is no longer the man she once loved.

Ooh, that's interesting. I didn't look at it as anything more than a little moment of imagination, but that's very true. Like you say, the macabre twist of that ghost family does tie in to the twist at the end.


And while it's true that the film does rely on some loud-noise scares, Reverse Shot's Michael Koresky made a point in his review for Film Comment that Wan doesn't resort to a single false scare in the film, which is to say that when there are loud noises, they are purely in the service of horror-related imagery, rather than the likes of cats jumping out of cupboards, people appearing out of nowhere, or what have you, which I thought was a pretty fair observation.

Good point. My observation was more on the issue of smaller, insinuating chills versus more outsized, loud sequences. It's weird to complain about this, because the threat obviously must escalate, but so few haunted house movies maintain their "horror" to the very end. I did appreciate that there were no hand-to-shoulder or cat scares.

One of the better horror films I've seen recently.

[Dukefrukem]

I love this too. I thought there were a few scenes that weren't as effective as the regular tone of the movie. The piano string scares I don't think were needed. The ending was expected. As was the stereoscope scene. The most effective scenes were the eerie ones, like the kid dancing to the music with the angle from outside the house. Loved it.

[number8]

Saw this the other night. We need more horror movies like the first half of this movie.

[Skitch]

Yes. This is one of the scarier (or more startling) horror movies in some time. Wish the 3rd act and climax had reeled it back a bit though.

[Irish]

Creepy as hell.

Thought Ezee nailed it, though. First half is incredible but the second half feels like a different movie. The main demon guy is just ridiculous, like some kind of version of Darth Maul in drag. When the Lone Gunmen & the psychic show up to drop a shit ton of exposition all at once, the bottom drops out of the movie.

During the second half, they had like 5 people standing around in the real world. So it never felt like they were in danger. I kept feeling like somebody was about to yell out for Carol Ann to stay out of the light. (It's also a little weird that the movie just forgets that there's two other children. They're supposed to be staying with Hershey, but when she shows up at the house again the kids are forgotten and nobody ever mentions them afterwards).

Everybody already mentioned most of my favorite moments, but I gotta say when it's the middle of the day and they're sitting around the dining room & Hersey is relating her dream ... Seeing that face peering from behind the dad made me jump out of my chair.

[Dukefrukem]

Everybody already mentioned most of my favorite moments, but I gotta say when it's the middle of the day and they're sitting around the dining room & Hersey is relating her dream ... Seeing that face peering from behind the dad made me jump out of my chair.

One of the few times I've been tense during a daylight horror movie scene.

Another was Drag Me to Hell.