Insidious

It seems now that Saw has winded down after seven movies, and they've officially announced that Paranormal Activity will have at least a third movie, it doesn't come as a huge surprise that Lionsgate had the idea to use the people from both series to come up with something more. And that more is Insidious, from the director and writer of Saw with the producers of Paranormal Activity.

James Wan and Leigh Whannell already moved from the gore-filled horror of Saw earlier with a little-seen Dead Silence which is a fun little scare movie. There are a lot of similarities between that movie and Insidious, although Insidious isn't quite as successful.

If you've seen any promos for the movie, you know it's a story about a family that think their house is haunted, but end up realizing that it's actually their comatose son who is the link between this world and the other, letting the ghosts through.

There's a lot to love in Insidious. The film actually creates a creepy atmosphere from the start and has a few quite effective scares. Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson have some chemistry together as wife and husband, and I think it's a shame these people aren't bigger names yet. Both are very good actors. Also, I liked that even though it's sold as a movie from Saw/Paranormal Activity people(and it definitely goes more for the PA audience, no gore in this one), it still has it's own identity.

This is most evident with the camera. Unlike Paranormal Activity, Insidious is a more conventional movie and it shows. James Wan's camera is very rarely still, and does some very interesting moves, sometimes to a distracting degree. It gives a feeling that Wan went for the Raimi School of Camera Tricks, but somehow it just doesn't feel very organic to the movie.

The movie scores big points from doing something audiences have yelled at the screen for every haunted house movie ever. When the hauntings start, the family actually moves out of the house. Even though this ends up being futile, it's nice to see someone out there is paying attention.

For the first two acts, the movie is very good. You care about the characters, the scares are somewhat unique and there's a very creepy atmosphere. But unfortunately the third act is where the movie goes from good to What the hell?

The explanation for the haunting is ludicrous. I realise that this is a ghost story, but suspension of disbelief only works so far. Having Lin Shaye come in and explain the whole thing in a five minute scene where everyone just sits in the living room, stops the movie in it's tracks and it never really recovers. Also, switching the protagonist halfway through the movie doesn't really work in this case. Rose Byrne is clearly the main character for the first half and is then reduced to a crying and yelling wife, while Patrick Wilson takes over the movie.

Is it worth seeing? I'd say yes, the first two acts worked gangbusters for me and even though there's a severe derail after that, it's still worth it for the start of the movie. Also the title card is gorgeous and the opening credits suitably creepy. My score for Insidious: 6/10