(Movie Review) Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)

Insidious: Chapter 2 scares away the competition in its opening weekend with a $41M haul

That is one of the things that I love about this time of the year. The closer we get to Halloween the closer we get to having a few good scary movies pop up at the local theater. It’s great when someone can put together a movie that relies on a fun premise with actual scary situations instead of only relying on blood and gore to sell a horror fill. The refreshing thing about this movie? It’s a PG-13 film that I think stands toe-to-toe with any R rated horror movies that have been released in the last few years. 

Storyline: The recent events that have plagued the Lambert family has resulted in the death of Elise (Shaye). While the police investigate the death the Lambert family goes to stay with Josh’s (Wilson) mother. The only problem is that Dalton (Simpkins) is not the only person that had a childhood connection to the spirits that reside in the plane known as “The Further”. When the family learns that Josh also had a childhood connection to this plane they begin to question if the person that came back is actually Josh, or if it is the spirit that once haunted him. 

First of all, I loved this movie. I think that it was a fun horror/suspense film that didn’t go for the cheap and gory thrills. They built suspense and paced the movie in a way that resulted in the audience getting so worked up that they (and I watched this happen) inched their way to the edge of the seats in anticipation of what was about to happen next. Another thing that I liked a lot was that there were some really interesting shots used in the movie. James Wan, the director, is no stranger to the genre. Directing Saw (2004), Dead Silence (2007), Insidious (2010), The Conjuring (2013) and Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013), he has PLENTY of familiarity with how to build suspense. But some of the shots used in the film were the best that I have seen from him. One of which was a really nice “push-in” during an interrogation that I thought was really well done. 

Worth the admission? All day long! This movie feels like it has equal parts Poltergeist and The Shinning mixed in with its story. It feels familiar, but not stale. Patrick Wilson plays his part beautifully and people actually started clapping when Lin Shaye came on screen as Elise. I can’t remember that happening in a movie I have seen in the past. I would assume that the same reaction was given to Zelda Rubinstein in the Poltergeist films, but I was a bit too young to see those in the theater.  Go check it out! 

B-