Insidious

Insidious (2010)

When a family moves into a new house creepy things start to happen. Soon one of their young sons falls into a coma, which only seems to aggravate the paranormal activity. Ghosts seem to pop up all over the house scaring the hell out of them. Eventually they get the hint and move to a new house, but the activity follows them. With the help of a spiritualist and her assistants they figure out that it wasn’t the house that was haunted. It was their comatose son who is haunted. But why is he haunted? This leads to the father rediscovering his own history as he tries to rescue his child from a terrible fate.

So recently I’ve been hearing how scary some of these found footage movies are (one in particular). Personally I find them terribly boring and don’t know why they would scare anyone. Disagree all that you want, but a movie like Insidious is an example of what a really scary movie should look like. This is an excellent horror film that takes a few minutes to build some tension and then never lets up. I was on the edge of my chair for most of the duration that is when I wasn’t jolted out of it by one of the many jump scares. Be warned guys this is the kind of movie that you really need to pay attention to. There are so many subtle things happening in the background that if you don’t catch them then you will be missing out on some of the fun. I also have a feeling that this is the kind of movie that as a viewer I will notice more things every time that I watch it. And I will be watching this one again.

Lets talk about the technical bits behind the making of the movie. First up I wanted to mention the camera work and lighting. Insidious is a very atmospheric movie and much of this is accomplished by the way scenes are shot and the lighting used. Director James Wan knows how to shoot a scene to make it scary, even when there shouldn’t be any reason for it to be. The shadows and the way that the camera is used to catch images in the background is subtle and effective. And while this isn’t a gory movie I did want to mention the special effects. The designs of the different ghosts are great. They aren’t done in an over the top way (well except for one and I won’t give that away) but are created by just making things a bit off in most cases. It is amazing how creepy a slightly distorted grinning face or one partially hidden behind a veil can be.

I was exhausted after watching Insidious. It really put me as a viewer thru the ringer, which is the reaction that I get whenever I watch a good scary movie. Insidious is a really fun and frightening flick that I recommend everyone give a chance to.

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer