I can be spontaneous sometimes.
I got off work at 9 p.m. on a Friday night and saw a friend of mine Tweet, “Someone go see Insidious 3 with me.” I responded, “Okay,” jokingly of course, only to have him reply that he was serious and wanted to go see the movie in an hour at the last showtime of the night. At that point, I really couldn’t say no, so here we are.
Sitting at a 61% Rotten Tomatoes rating (though I believe it deserves higher), and in the top three at the box office as of writing this, Insidious: Chapter 3 is actually a prequel to the two films before it.
It follows a young girl named Quinn Brenner, whose mother passed away from cancer, as she seeks the help of saga psychic Elise Rainier, who has recently given up use of her other-worldly power due to an entity that haunted her. As Elise tries to contact Quinn’s mother, she accidentally summons a horrifying demon, named “The Man Who Can’t Breathe,” who begins to attach himself to Quinn and wreak havoc.
I have a love-hate relationship with horror films, usually. I enjoy the thrills and haunting atmospheres (as well as the screaming audience members in the showings with me), but usually not the acting or much of the setup. Here, I thought the setup and performances were very interesting.
Newcomer Stefanie Scott did a great job steering away from the horror movie teenage girl cliches, and Lin Shaye delivers a strong performance as Elise. Much of the second and third acts of the movie focus on her backstory and abilities, and people at my screening were clapping and cheering for her as she fought her way into various hallways of demons and scary imagery. The only weak performances came from Quinn’s best friend and love interest, both of which (luckily) only appeared in two scenes each and have no effect on the overall story.
If you like being scared out of your wits, you’ll love this. It’s packed with tense moments, terrifying imagery and cameos from both of the previous movie monsters. The only thing it lacks is a red herring jump scare, where you hear a loud noise and scary music only to be met with a peaceful cat or a gentle breeze, which of course, works in the film’s favor.
If you like the first two movies, you’ll love the backstory of Elise and the hilarious ghost hunters, who have their first meeting in the final act of this film. Even though the scariness comes to a screeching halt so one of them could eat a cupcake, I really didn’t mind. It gave the audience (and me) a break from the scares and a nod to the prior films.
If you like creative imagery and twisted atmospheres, you’ll love the various demons, ghosts and other entities that appear as Elise goes deeper into the “Further,” as she labels it before entering.
Even though I spent at least half of the movie with my ears plugged, peeking out from in between my fingers, I still got a chance to enjoy the creative work of director Leigh Wannell (who appears as one of the ghost busters, hilariously wearing a Casper shirt).
I’m going to give this one a solid A. I was engaged and terrified the whole movie, whispering things like “Don’t do it!” at the characters, which is always a good sign for a film. It also doesn’t end with a jump scare or a bloodbath like most other horror films these days. Maybe it’s just my personal taste, but I suggest that you take some time in the next couple of weeks to beat the gloomy weather and see this chiller.