Insidious: Chapter 2
/"I know what happened. I went in that place to get our son back and something evil followed me, who killed Elise."
Filmology Rating: 3 out of 4
When it comes to the horror genre I consider myself to be terrified child. I have yet to watch what many consider classics such as The Exorcist and The Blair Witch Project. I mainly stick to my slasher films like Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, films that at times can offer some interesting social commentary on our society, but most of the time just offer a bloody good time. Only a few months ago, after I saw The Conjuring, did I realize my true love for the genre; that adrenaline rush that you get not knowing what will come at you next is exhilarating and frightening at the same time creating experiences that will stay with you for a lifetime.
Picking up directly after the events in Insidious, Renai, played by Rose Byrne, is being questioned by police about the mysterious death of Elise, played by Lin Shaye, with all the evidence pointing to the murderer being Josh Lambert, played by Patrick Wilson, who recently returned from The Further after rescuing his son. The Lambert family quickly realizes that it might not have been Josh who returned from the paranormal world and that a fight for his very soul is on the horizon.
The best element of Insidious: Chapter 2 is that it doesn’t have to deal with the extreme amount of exposition that the first film had. With Chapter 2 picking up directly after the first film you are either along for the ride that this film has to give, or you will be kicking and screaming wanting for the film to end. Chapter 2 picks up on the best elements of its predecessor by using the excellent cliffhanger that the film ended on to always hold the audience in suspense and by using The Further to create more dread filled scenes that would help add tension to the film that the reality based realm in the film lacked. Building off of the first film you are left with a maddened world where nothing is as it should be, where around every turn you could come across your worst fears waiting to consume you; Insidious: Chapter 2 is best when it is working as a game of cat and mouse and working at its worst when it is a family drama.
I never bought the relationship between Josh, played by Patrick Wilson, and Renai, played by Rose Byrne in Insidious and I once again never bought that dynamic in this film. While Wilson is showing off his more eccentric and crazy side, he even gets to try out his Jack Nicholson impersonation which some people will find eye roll inducing, but I thought it was one of the highlights of the film. Byrne once again comes off as one bland monotone note. Byrne has proven that she can be a capable actress in films like X-Men: First Class and Adam but lately she has settled into this habit of talking monotone and giving as little empathy as possible to make her seem like the most passive character who ever graced the silver screen. If you cannot empathize with the characters who are being tormented by the demons and ghouls, then I would argue that you yourself will never feel an ounce of horror for those you are suppose to be hoping survive the horrors unfolding before them.
Speaking of elements of a film that won’t leave you feeling horrified; banging on piano keys and having loud noises come at what are suppose to be intense and frightening moments take the audience out of the film. I was never scared of the images that I was seeing, I was more afraid that my eardrums might not recover from the violent atrocities that happened to them. If a filmmaker cannot make an actual scare without relying on a jump scare then I would suggest that the director and screenwriter go back to getting some of the finer details of the script ironed out.
While Insidious felt like a slight film that was hindered by the PG-13 rating, Insidious: Chapter 2 decides to play with the crazier parts of the world rather than try to create a world that is based in reality. Insidious: Chapter 2 does nothing to move to horror genre forward and the film is never terrifying. Nonetheless, I had a complete blast watching the film. In some regards Insidious: Chapter 2 might be one of those so bad that it’s good movies for me especially after seeing the other James Wan directed horror film this year, The Conjuring.
Rating: Rent It
-Jonny G