Directed by James Wan, Starring: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Ty Simpkons, & Barbara Hershey. Insidious (2011)


What’s It About?

IMDB says:“A family looks to prevent evil spirits from trapping their comatose child in a realm called The Further.“


What We Thought:
Lindsay: Everyone describing Insidious throws around the same obvious comparisons and generalizations. It’s a haunted house film, a possession movie and a modern day Poltergeist. Yes to all three. But what people are failing to say about Insidious is how absolutely terrifying it is. Insidious builds tension to the brink (better than the Paranormal Activity series, in my opinion) and is fantastically unrelenting. There are few flaws in the film, most notably for me was Rose Bryne’s acting, but they are so easily dismissed because as a viewer you barely have downtime from terror to care. The film starts out slow but not boring. Then it expertly constructs each scene to get your head in exactly the right atmosphere for the rest of the flick. The camera work and use of dreary blue lighting is brilliant and the score is pitch perfect. I never felt this film to be clichéd. I thought James Wan totally had his mind made up and was fucking spot on in execution. There is a decidedly old school vibe to the movie that makes it so effective, really getting back to the roots of what scares audiences. I haven’t been so genuinely scared watching a horror movie in theaters since The Ring came out when I was 14. Insidious kept my heart rate soaring and I honestly felt like I needed a break at times. It was awesome. I highly suggest that you check out this movie in theaters if you have the opportunity. Bring a group of your jumpiest friends and I can’t imagine you will leave disappointed.
There are people out there that love horror films and there are people out there that just want to be scared. Insidious works for both crowds in spades.
Jessica: Watching an abundance of horror films really starts to desensitize the viewer, who while seeing something scary, is not always affected in the least. This movie affected me in a way that I can’t even remember being scared before. The physical effects of this movie include an increased heart beat, shaking, moaning, screaming, jumping, etc in such an intense way for most of this movie. Thank god for the few breaks of laughter that James Wan has thrown in there! While the plot of this movie does take notes from other great horror movies, this one combined them uniquely and exquisitely in my opinion. It takes a lot for a jump scare to not be cheap, and not one in this movie are. They are genuinely tense, shocking, and frightening. Wan has crafted what I will have to consider one of the scariest movies that I have ever seen.
Rob: Insidious was such a fun movie to watch. It was full of suspense from early on in the movie and kept you going throughout. Most of the scares were genuine, but even the jump scares seemed done with attention so as not to come off cheap. The plot behind the movie was interesting enough that it did not take away from the fun and the bits of humor thrown in didn’t have a negative effect on the overall mood. The ending of the movie did seem to slow the pace down some to focus more on the story, but the suspense remained pretty high all the way to the end. At the very end, there was a few ways that the movie could turn out, and they did a good job of keeping you wondering what was going to happen up until the last scene.


 
FTS SCORE:
90%
90-100% =Almost perfect film. All time favorite.