Insidious

[The Curmudgeon]

Mr Late to the Party Curmudgeon, here, who just saw this film last night (although I did buy the Blu Ray the day it came out on word of mouth buzz alone).

So, for the first 3/4 of the film I was like



And then after that I was kinda like



I mean, I thought the part in the first house was pant-shitting stuff. The voice on the baby monitor, the face at the window (even the old woman's face right at the start), the bloody hand print on the bedsheets... superb. There were some great moments in the new house (the little kid dancing to the record, the BIG FUCKING RED FACE behind the guy).. and then things started to get a little bit .... silly.

The comic relief of the two ghostbuster nerd guys was fine, but the finale was like the ending to Thriller. I think when things get TOO involved and too far-fetched is when it lost me. Plus, they showed WAY too much of the demon ghost thing. Small glimpses and he's terrifying, show too much and he's Darth Maul with an eating disorder.

All in all, though - another great independent horror film that was thirty minutes away from becoming a modern classic. Fancy that, Hollywood - commission a new script; not a remake, not something from a book, a NEW IDEA - don't spend millions on big name cast members (horror films have never needed them) and boom. Mega profit.

I read there's a sequel to Insidious in the pipeline. Not sure how that would work (hope it's more Paranormal Activity 2 than Jeepers Creepers 2) but mainstream horror's heart is still beating.. just.

[trashcanman]

100% agreed. Not the first horror film to be awesome and then blow it at the climax by going over the top. I thought the exact same thing about the demon being Darth Maul. They showed too much of him and then completely dumped him like he didn't matter and started carrying on about the old lady out of fucking nowhere so instead of bringing the story to a head it stops it dead and the leaves you saying what the fuck. Their foreshadowing skills SUCK.

[The Curmudgeon]

See, I think they did the right thing with the old woman. You only ever saw glimpses of her, and the photograph thing where she was getting closer and closer was pretty awesome. I missed a bit in the end, though - why DID that psychic woman take his picture?

[trashcanman]

It's been a while since I saw the movie, but I recall the old lady thing kind of coming out of nowhere aside from some random bullshit spattered here and there. But if they had made her a more constant presence rather than Darth Maul, I think it would have made more sense at the end.

[Quillford]

Im a horror fan. I thought I would give this a shot. Went to the cinema, sat, jumped and came out. I tried... I really did. It was horseshit! I was bitterly dissapointed. Plot hole galore AND predictable. Good horrors have you guessing and doubting your own reality - the own thing I doubted here was if stratching my arse would make the 8.50 I had just spent worth it. Maybe i'm being harsh. There were the odd good scene or moments. But honestly I wished it had gone onto the back pile with oh so many awful creations.

[trashcanman]

Mainstream horror seldom does the trick these days. I always approach them with caution. The hardcore stuff is almost always straight to DVD.