Insidious: The Red Door | Film Review

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I mentioned in my review of the new Mission: Impossible film that my personal Barbie vs Oppenheimer was M:I vs Insidious, and if I'm honest I was probably more excited for Insidious. I feel so invested in these movies, and in this family, and the fact that Patrick Wilson directed this one just pushed that excitement over the edge.

About 10 years after the events of Insidious 1 and 2, Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson) is taking his son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) to college. However, soon the pair find that the demons they've repressed from their past have found them once again.

I'm definitely biased because of my love for these characters, but I enjoyed this movie. It's not perfect, and I definitely have some issues with it, but I also think it's a successful sequel.

As mentioned more than once, I loved seeing the original characters. Not only Josh and Dalton, but Rose Byrne is back as Renai, and I loved that they kept the same actor, Andrew Astor, to play Dalton's brother Foster. I also like the way the story continued with Dalton going to college. It made sense, the actors were all the right age (no weird ageing prosthetics or de-ageing CGI) and it was a great time to see the family again.

I found it really interesting that this film kind of focused on the relationship between father and son, in a way the others haven't. It gave an extra layer of authenticity to the characters.

As usual, there are fun jumpscares - the series is kind of famous for them at this point. But there's also a couple of scenes that are genuinely scary in and of themselves, which was really well done (thinking of the MRI scene in particular).

I didn't love the ending. The film focused a lot on the connection (or lack thereof) between Josh and Dalton, and I never felt this was really resolved.

Overall, this is not the best 'Insidious' movie (though definitely better than 3 and 4), but as a franchise fan, I think it was a solid sequel. And I have no idea if any more will be made but I'd definitely watch another one!

6.5/10



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