Insidious Chapter 3 Review
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Quinn Brenner (Stephanie Scott) is a young girl approaching her college years, who lives with her widowed father and younger brother in a swish inner city apartment. While auditioning for a place in a top college in New York, she gets mowed down by a car while distracted by a mysterious waving figure, leaving her bed bound. Its at this point she begins to think she is being contacted by her dead mother, but when things start getting more violent and malevolent, its up to psychic Elise Rainer (Lin Shayne) to reprise her franchise role and rescue her from a demon that has latched onto her soul. While the plot is similar to parts 1 and 2 of Insidious, newly helmed director Leigh Whannell manages to create enough emotional substance in the characters to make the plot interesting and at times touching. Most of this is done with the interaction between Quinn and her father, played by Dermot Mulroney. The relationship between father and daughter is at the core of Insidious 3, both in reality and the ghost world they call 'The Further'. It is this dynamic, however cliché and predictable that makes plot of Chapter 3 more interesting than the first two instalments.
In terms of horror, the film has a knack of knowing exactly when to pull the quiet-quiet-bang jump scares that are so common in today's horror scene, making them much more effective than the generic and predictable scares of recent pictures like Poltergeist. Moreover the franchise avoids the CGI monster route in favour of images that are fleeting, yet linger in the mind long after the credits roll. Much like the first film (not so much chapter 2) Whannell uses our inner most fears to create effective jumps, a dark figure towering over your bed or a face in a window can be far scarier than a gross out monster or buckets of blood. Insidious Chapter 3 is also a film jam packed full of references. From the opening title scene alone we are treated to the same fantastically old school violin heavy music that has been used in past iterations of the film franchise, something which I have always enjoyed. Furthermore it is clear that a lot of the inspiration for the film's scares have come from Japanese horror, crawling faceless girls and strange messed up images are used brilliantly, as well as the world travelling 'other place' kind of horror you get from a film like Poltergeist.
While the latest film is a definite step in the right direction for the franchise, it still doesn't have the same emotional depth or provide any food for thought that a more leftfield film like The Babadook does and at its core Insidious 3 is a film to please the masses at multiplexes. So while a lot of things have been improved and the film packs a serious amount of decent scares, it could be argued that the Hollywood sheen makes it difficult to become truly invested in the characters or horror, which are often predictable, yet solid and effective.
7.5/10
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As the film opens, a young girl knocks on a retired psychic's door wanting to speak to her deceased mother, unluckily for her, instead of contacting her mum she accidentally brings back a demon. Its at this point you know Insidious Chapter 3 is going to be a predictable film, luckily though, this Leigh Whannell directed chiller packs in enough effective scares to warrant a watch, especially for horror fans.
Quinn Brenner (Stephanie Scott) is a young girl approaching her college years, who lives with her widowed father and younger brother in a swish inner city apartment. While auditioning for a place in a top college in New York, she gets mowed down by a car while distracted by a mysterious waving figure, leaving her bed bound. Its at this point she begins to think she is being contacted by her dead mother, but when things start getting more violent and malevolent, its up to psychic Elise Rainer (Lin Shayne) to reprise her franchise role and rescue her from a demon that has latched onto her soul. While the plot is similar to parts 1 and 2 of Insidious, newly helmed director Leigh Whannell manages to create enough emotional substance in the characters to make the plot interesting and at times touching. Most of this is done with the interaction between Quinn and her father, played by Dermot Mulroney. The relationship between father and daughter is at the core of Insidious 3, both in reality and the ghost world they call 'The Further'. It is this dynamic, however cliché and predictable that makes plot of Chapter 3 more interesting than the first two instalments.
In terms of horror, the film has a knack of knowing exactly when to pull the quiet-quiet-bang jump scares that are so common in today's horror scene, making them much more effective than the generic and predictable scares of recent pictures like Poltergeist. Moreover the franchise avoids the CGI monster route in favour of images that are fleeting, yet linger in the mind long after the credits roll. Much like the first film (not so much chapter 2) Whannell uses our inner most fears to create effective jumps, a dark figure towering over your bed or a face in a window can be far scarier than a gross out monster or buckets of blood. Insidious Chapter 3 is also a film jam packed full of references. From the opening title scene alone we are treated to the same fantastically old school violin heavy music that has been used in past iterations of the film franchise, something which I have always enjoyed. Furthermore it is clear that a lot of the inspiration for the film's scares have come from Japanese horror, crawling faceless girls and strange messed up images are used brilliantly, as well as the world travelling 'other place' kind of horror you get from a film like Poltergeist.
While the latest film is a definite step in the right direction for the franchise, it still doesn't have the same emotional depth or provide any food for thought that a more leftfield film like The Babadook does and at its core Insidious 3 is a film to please the masses at multiplexes. So while a lot of things have been improved and the film packs a serious amount of decent scares, it could be argued that the Hollywood sheen makes it difficult to become truly invested in the characters or horror, which are often predictable, yet solid and effective.
7.5/10
