Insidious Review

INSIDIOUS REVIEW

 

Year: 2010

Stars: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne and Ty Simpkins

Directed: James Wan

Running Time: 103mins approx.

 

 

 

Yes, we all cringed through that excitable trailer as it repeatedly drummed it's knackered cliché's into our tired, tormented skulls.  All garnered the knowledge every ad break that it was not actually their house that was haunted, but in fact their son.  We had the very unoriginal, convention rehashing elements of 'Insidious' flung in our face to such an extent that when we finally got around to watching it, it was almost a mild relief to discover that the films story and style were not as boorishly derivative as its advertising campaign would have us believe.

 

Insidious brings together the two famous/infamous creators of the Saw and Paranormal Activity franchises, another titbit that trailer saw fit to repeatedly howl into our eardrums.  Directed by James Wan (That'll be Saw) and produced by Oren Peli (you do the math), they're attention grabbing credentials but whether they endow a label of quality or not is a less simple matter.  Both their respective franchises were kick-started with films of genuine merit but said franchises reputations swiftly nose-dived after a relentless barrage of money hoovering sequels harbouring quality that sparsely reared its head above the level of utter gash.

 

But it's their presence here that seems to bring a sprinkle of gravitas and conviction to the film. Revering in a kind of over egged 70's violin thrashing silliness but crossed with the more quiet, atmospheric haunted house tradition, the film is certainly a unique and intriguing mix.  It's a mix that carries an essence of boldness yet it's stark contrast eventually contributes to 'Insidious undoubtable failure.

 

The film starts off in the usual way; a family moves into an old house and soon begins to encounter the strange noises and unusual occurrences you would expect from a haunted house film.  It's not long before their eldest son Dalton mysteriously falls asleep one night and doesn't wake up, lapsing into a coma the doctors can't explain.  The family soldier on, father Josh (Patrick Wilson) goes to work every day, leaving his wife Renai (Rose Byrne) to potter about the house investigating strange noises.   It's all nothing new but the story is handled well enough, travelling in a direction that keeps things captivating and reasonably taut.

 

The first glaring problem however, other than the blatant over familiarity, is the frequency of it's creepy phenomena.  Often barely a few seconds transpire in between doors creaking open, books being mysteriously moved about, children laughing from obscure corners of the house and countless other spooky episodes.  It's the overuse of these tropes that mean we're quickly desensitized to any building fear and find it difficult to take the film seriously.

 

It's not all bad, there are occasions when the film is chillingly effective, Wan atmospherically handling a couple of sequences with genuine skill and understanding of the genre.  Most of the acting is of a higher level than you would expect from people cast in such simple traditional roles.  Patrick Wilson especially.  The man has established himself as a very natural performer, able to imbue the general loving family man with a bit of life and here is no exception, but he really should be aiming higher at this point in his career.

 

But the film's few graces go to wolves in the second half when any pretence to subtlety is completely thrown by the wayside in favour of ghost ride ridiculousness, thrusting so much colour, smoke and silly looking demons in our face and shaking it all about until we're thrown out of the film and can never really get back in.  This Joy(less) ride leads us up to a fun last minute twist but by that point we're beyond caring.  Granted, it's all bold and unique and the film certainly seems to be having a good time, which is great, because we certainly are not.

 

 

Review by affiliate Justin Abbott