Fast-forward a few months and Dylan is still in a coma. Odd things continue to happen to Renai and, at this point, they are becoming too frequent and too frightening. At one point, she overhears malevolent whispers coming from baby Cali's room through her baby monitor. She later sees an ominous male form behind the baby's bed and yet another time, this same form is seen pacing outside of Renai's bedroom window, only to materialize and attack her physically. Naturally, her husband never actually sees these things. She convinces him that the house is haunted and they move to a new house, only to have the happenings continue.
As Renai continues to experience these horrible things, Patrick's mother, Lorraine (Barbara Hershey, Black Swan) believes it's time to bring in the big guns. She invites Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye), a psychic and old friend, and her team of ghost hunters to scope out the house and see what's there, if anything. Elise sees plenty and decides to conduct a séance of sorts, complete with wacky headgear, to send Josh into the "Further" and retrieve Dylan before it is too late and he is lost forever. What Josh finds there is chilling, indeed, and looks like something straight out of the mind of Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth). The end is satisfying and worked well for the movie.
However, Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne, while both competent actors, just didn't seem to have any chemistry. It was more like they were going through the motions of being distraught parents and I didn't really buy into their grief. While Barbara Hershey and Lin Shaye were great, her team of ghost hunters (Angus Sampson and Leigh Wannell) sort of grated on my nerves. I imagine they were meant to be some comedic relief, but this movie didn't really call for comedic relief. I felt like it would have been better to have kept the audience on edge the entire time. They also seemed to be very stereotypical of what Hollywood has come to expect from the ghost hunting type and that was somewhat annoying as well. They just seemed silly.
Insidious comes with only three special features. One is a "seminar" on horror films, but, more specifically, what the filmmakers were trying to accomplish with Insidious. The next is an on-set featurette and the final featurette is all about the creepy ghoulies you'll meet in the film, and believe me, some are chilling doozies.
I am torn with Insidiouos. It wasn't as great as I had hoped it would be and the intro and extro movie title looked like something very Hitchcockian, which wasn't the vibe the movie gave off. It was almost as if the filmmakers weren't sure what direction they wanted to go. In fact, in one of the featurettes, they say it starts as a haunted house movie, then morphs into a possession movie, then finally settles on a... well, I won't tell because I don't want to ruin it for you. The movie was just a bit all over the place for me. At times, it seemed like an other-worldly trip like something you'd expect from Guillermo Del Toro or even from the old videogame Max Payne (and if you've ever played it, you'll know what I mean). At other times, it just seemed like a straight-up horror flick like The Exorcist. Still other times, it just struck me as a bit silly. All of that being said, I still enjoyed it; I just didn't love it. If you like scary movies, then give it a rent. As I said, there were lots of times when chills went down our spines while watching it, so it will give you a scare and maybe even a creepy jump or two. Plus, there are no false jump scares, which I appreciate. When Renai is experiencing those visitations, you will be creeped out. It's just not the best I've seen and it's probably not worth a purchase.
