Director: James Wan
Starring:Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbra Hershey, Leigh Wannell, Angus Sampson, Steve Coulter
Rating: Rated PG13 for intense sequences of terror and violence, and thematic elements
Initial Reaction:
Going into "Insidious, Chapter 2" I had a lot of expectations. Not even taking the last film into account, the mere fact that James Wan also directed smash horror hit "The Conjuring" made almost everyone excited to see his next film. Right on top of this the film featured a heavy marketing campaign that made the film look really good and scary and even made me more excited for it. I was a fan of the first "Insidious" movie, I wasn't in love with it like most people were but I was able to appreciate and found a lot of good things in it. The main thing that made me think that this film would be such an improvement over the original was that James Wan, who created the saw franchise, said that if a sequel was made to "Insidious" he wanted to be involved with it because after he left the Saw franchise after the third one he admitted that the franchise got out of hand. That showed a lot of artistic integrity and made me excited for this film. Now with having seen "Insidious, Chapter 2" that on the scale that director James Wan had set for himself, the film disappoints. The film lacks the scares necessary to make this a compelling horror film. What surprised me most with this film was how intriguing the story was, usually in horror movies especially sequels the plot usually deteriorates and in this film it got better.
Plot (4/5):
If you have not seen the first "Insidious" movie I highly recommend watching that one before watching "Insidious, Chapter 2" because the film literally picks up right after the end of the first one. Like I said in my introduction, the place writer/actor Leigh Wannell takes the franchise in this film is truly fascinating. James Wan has said before that he is a big fan of retro style of storytelling and you can see that one display with the central mystery of the film that the audience solves alongside the characters as the film progresses. The film also is able to jump back and forth through different time periods and do it to entertaining perspective. The film moves at a very high pace and even in parts of the film you would usually find boring. The downtime in a horror movie usually takes time to flesh out your characters and even in those moments I felt the characters were fully fleshed out to not be irritated watching their lives. The reason I don't give the plot a full 5 is because of the ending. James Wan and lead star Patrick Wilson have both said that they don't see themselves making another one and that this could be seen as the ending of the series. If this is the way the series ends it is truly disappointing. The film ends on a cliffhanger and there are a few things you notice at the end that aren't resolved. I give the film credit for being entertaining story wise but if they really planned on this being the last one, I felt they should have done a better job wrapping the story up.
Acting (3/5):
All of the stars from the first movie return for the sequel and outside of Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne, no one else really has any real story to deal with. Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne are two highly underrated actors who are definitely enjoyable to watch anytime they are on screen and they were definitely good in this movie. The contrasts they played as husband and wife while all these terrible things were happening to them were really realistic and I liked the adult approach they took with the characters. The other two people I would like to mention are the two side kick paranormal investigator guys played by Leigh Wannell and Angus Sampson. They become the film's comic relief and with comic relief especially in a non-comedic film they usually find themselves on a line. A line of being really funny or really irritating, and while sometimes the two got on my nerves and found them more funny than annoying so I'll also give credit for that. The rest of the cast is good in their small roles, but really are just background characters to the main two so I would have wished that the rest of the family and side characters would have been a little more fleshed out but everyone was good, no complaints on the acting.
Directing (2.5/5):
This was probably the main reason I was looking forward to "Insidious" as I am a huge fan of James Wan. His films "Saw", "Death Sentence", "Insidious", and "The Conjuring" are some of my favorite horror and action movies. What I've noticed with him since his first film in "Saw" is an improvement he has took with each of his films. He is also beginning a next big stage in his career taking over the fast and furious franchise next summer, so with this being his last foray into horror for a while I was disappointed. I was mainly disappointed that the film lacked any of the real flare that "The Conjuring" which came out two months ago felt like, I felt like while everyone else was trying with this film he was kind of just collecting a paycheck until Fast and Furious. Not to say his film making style is bad it just feels like a rip off style wise of "The Conjuring" and very non inventive. Not to say everything with it was bad as the film did move at a fast pace and had an engaging story it just wasn't scary, I didn't jump once and that is really bad for a horror movie.
Replay Ability (2.75/5):
If I was recommending a friend a horror movie to watch I wouldn't recommend "Insidious, Chapter 2", sadly the film doesn't live up to what should be a good horror movie. The film does surpass most recent horror movie sequels "The Last Exorcism, Part II" , and "Silent Hill: Revelations" but that's not saying much as most horror film sequels are considered bad and just cash grabs. The film offers a nice mystery aspects and good acting but at the end of the day it wasn't enough to warrant this film a must see and if you're a fan of Wan or "Insidious" in general I would recommend waiting for netflix or rental.
All of the stars from the first movie return for the sequel and outside of Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne, no one else really has any real story to deal with. Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne are two highly underrated actors who are definitely enjoyable to watch anytime they are on screen and they were definitely good in this movie. The contrasts they played as husband and wife while all these terrible things were happening to them were really realistic and I liked the adult approach they took with the characters. The other two people I would like to mention are the two side kick paranormal investigator guys played by Leigh Wannell and Angus Sampson. They become the film's comic relief and with comic relief especially in a non-comedic film they usually find themselves on a line. A line of being really funny or really irritating, and while sometimes the two got on my nerves and found them more funny than annoying so I'll also give credit for that. The rest of the cast is good in their small roles, but really are just background characters to the main two so I would have wished that the rest of the family and side characters would have been a little more fleshed out but everyone was good, no complaints on the acting.
This was probably the main reason I was looking forward to "Insidious" as I am a huge fan of James Wan. His films "Saw", "Death Sentence", "Insidious", and "The Conjuring" are some of my favorite horror and action movies. What I've noticed with him since his first film in "Saw" is an improvement he has took with each of his films. He is also beginning a next big stage in his career taking over the fast and furious franchise next summer, so with this being his last foray into horror for a while I was disappointed. I was mainly disappointed that the film lacked any of the real flare that "The Conjuring" which came out two months ago felt like, I felt like while everyone else was trying with this film he was kind of just collecting a paycheck until Fast and Furious. Not to say his film making style is bad it just feels like a rip off style wise of "The Conjuring" and very non inventive. Not to say everything with it was bad as the film did move at a fast pace and had an engaging story it just wasn't scary, I didn't jump once and that is really bad for a horror movie.
If I was recommending a friend a horror movie to watch I wouldn't recommend "Insidious, Chapter 2", sadly the film doesn't live up to what should be a good horror movie. The film does surpass most recent horror movie sequels "The Last Exorcism, Part II" , and "Silent Hill: Revelations" but that's not saying much as most horror film sequels are considered bad and just cash grabs. The film offers a nice mystery aspects and good acting but at the end of the day it wasn't enough to warrant this film a must see and if you're a fan of Wan or "Insidious" in general I would recommend waiting for netflix or rental.
Final Grade: 3.1 (B-)
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