Insidious: The Last Key | Film Review

Hey Guys x

I really wanted to see this when it first came out, but as much as I love horror movies, they're the only genre of film that I won't go to the cinema alone to see. Which means that I usually end up seeing them later than I otherwise would.

Anyway, I've always been a fan of this franchise, so I was really excited to see this next instalment.

It's about the woman who's starred in all 3 'Insidious' movies leading up to this one, parapsychologist Elise Rainier. When taking on a case, Elise realises that the people who are being haunted live in her childhood home - the home where she first discovered her gift with the supernatural. With her two partners in tow, she travels back to her home, where she finds that the demon terrorising the current residents of her old home is the same demon that she herself set free.

I love Blumhouse, the production company. And I love the 'Insidious' movies, particularly the first two. However, I feel like they, and us, could have done without this 4th instalment.

For a start, Elise died in 'Insidious 1'. That's not a spoiler because the movie came out a million years ago now and if you wanted to see it then, you probably did.

But yes, so each film has had to make allowances for that to allow her to be included. And it all made sense, in 'Chapter 2' she was helping from the other side, 'Chapter 3' was set in the past so it made sense. The placement of this one felt weird to me, and until the end when we see a slight link, I didn't see the point of this story being told after 'Chapter 3' has already been done. If anything, this is the story that should have been the first prequel and 'Chapter 3' should have happened after.

However, the reason that I'm glad that 'Chapter 3' happened before this one is because, even with the confusing placement of this story, it just wasn't that good.

For me, the first thing I look for in a horror movie is to be scared. A lot of people hate those 'jump scare' films, or don't think that they're real horror moments. However, I live for jump scares in movies. I mean, I also love to be scared psychologically, and I love to be scared in a way that causes me to still think about how scared I am well after the movie has finished, but I'm a huge fan of jump scares. And this franchise has always relied on their jump scares. The jump scares in this movie, unfortunately, just didn't do it for me. I don't think I jumped more than once.

But forgetting the horror aspect, I didn't like the story either. After the initial flashback scene, I didn't really care about Elise, and I certainly didn't care about the family that she was trying to save. In fact, I only really cared about her partners (fixtures of these movies who I love!) and her nieces. That's it.

So overall, I'd say that if you've seen the three movies leading up to this, there's no point not seeing this one, especially as it might be the last. But in my opinion, don't see it expecting it to be an amazing movie, because it isn't.

Lou