Late at night as you lay in bed, you hear sounds that at times can make your heart race a little. These sounds can be a house settling, or maybe a varmint running in-between your walls. We know what they are, but maybe some where inside us we think they could be something else. Something unknown. Now you may think I’m crazy saying that, but if you think how so many of us enjoy going to see scary movies just to get that scare, then it makes sense. Let’s face it, we like to be scared, and we like movies that do the scaring, because when it is all over, we get to say “It’s only a movie”.
Five years ago writer Leigh Whannell (Saw) brought us the tale of a family trying to keep one of their kids from being taken to a place called “The Further”, or in simple terms, the dark place. Like every horror film, you knew a sequel was coming and it would expand on the story, so we could understand it a little more. Well you know what they say about not knowing where you are going, unless you know where you have been, so for chapter 3 in the “Insidious” franchise, we go back to the past. Because it worked out so well for “Star Wars”.
Quinn (Stefanie Scott) has just lost her mother, and she seeks out Elise (Lin Shayne) to find a way to talk to her again. Elise though does not want to visit the world of the dead anymore, after she had an experience that has made her fear what will happen if she does. Quinn heads back home disappointed, a home she shares with her father Sean (Dermot Mulroney) and her brother Alex (Tate Berney). Soon though Quinn is involved in an accident and she starts to see and hear things in her room. While at first she thinks it is her mother, it turns out it is something evil. With the help of Elise, who finds her courage, and two guys who claim they can rid a house of ghost, they must all fight an evil, while trying to save Quinn.
The thing you have to realize going into this movie, is it isn’t going to reinvent the wheel. What I mean by that is like all movies that are like this lately, “Insidious: Chapter 3” relies on the same cheap “haunted house” jump scares that they all use. Now even though the film is just like everything else you have seen, it still isn’t painful to watch, even with it’s been there, seen that formula. The film actually offers entertainment; even if it is in ways not intended, like technology that really keeps you guessing when the film is supposed to be taking place. Writer Leigh Whannell, who has penned the last two films also directs this chapter, and you can tell he has learned a lot, especially from James Wan, who still makes a brief appearance in the film. So if you are looking for something original that will scare you, this not the film for you, but if you want to jump a few times, and don’t mind the usual, then grab your scream partner and head to the a theater near you, just don’t forget the popcorn.
Brian Taylor
