Insidious: Chapter 3 sees the horror franchise return – this time, with a new director. Leigh Whannell, who wrote the first Insidious as well as co-wrote the second and third flicks (not to mention wrote the SAW series), is now at the helm. You would also know Whannell from his role as the ghost hunter character “Specs” in the franchise. I was very curious to see just how this film would turn out – as it is not often a writer gets to take over and direct a story they originated. And, this is a first-time at bat for Whannell to direct a horror film. No pressure though, right?
Insidious: Chapter 3, despite its “3”, is actually a prequel to the other two films in the series, this time focusing on teenager Quinn Brenner (Stefanie Scott) and her family as she is attacked by evil, paranormal entities. Playing her Father, John Brenner, is veteran film actor Dermot Mulroney. The cast does a great job of bringing their characters to life – with special mentions to Scott, who believably emotes terror and pain, and Mulroney, who’s on-screen frustration and torment single parents will be able to identify with all too well – demons or no. Lin Shaye, who returns as psychic Elise Rainier, continues to be the audience’s anchor throughout this series and we always seem to root for her to kick paranormal ass and save the day. This time, however, she has to be convinced to re-enter the psychic warrior business as she has sworn off of it due to personal fear of death from a vengeful entity…
Insidious: Chapter 3 does expand on the overall mythos of the Insidious world, and does tie-in to the other films in some clever ways – ways which I will not spoil in this review. I have always looked at Insidious and Insidious: Chapter 2 as a sort of “theatre on film”. They are very melodramatic and much of the effects works is done right on camera, in the audience’s collective face. The films have in insane amount of “creep-factor” thanks to that style not being something most films in the horror genre make use of. Unfortunately, Insidious: Chapter 3 tends to back away from this theatre on film style and rely more on traditional “jump scares”. By the end of the film, these jump scares became a bit predictable and being predictable isn’t something I like to associate with an Insidious film.
This is probably more telling of Whannell getting his footing as a horror director, but I cut him a lot of slack because there is so much to like in the film beyond some cheap scares – Insidious: Chapter 3 has a lot of genuinely scary and creepy moments. Enough creepy moments that the jump scare dependence only makes the film lose one star in our rating system. We give Insidious: Chapter 3 a 4 out of 5 stars (see the button to explain our rating system below). If you are a fan of the series or haunted house horror films in general, you will have a creepy-good time!
[easyreview title=”Insidious: Chapter 3 Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″ ]
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