There’s something refreshingly ridiculous about Leigh Whannell and James Wan’s foray into fairground ghost-train fare. Unlike the torture porn of their own Saw series or the overwrought seriousness of The Woman In Black or The Pact, there’s an unabashed element of sheer fun to proceedings, where there are constant scares, more creepy dolls and demon women than there are scenes, and a veritable smorgasbord of in-jokes and old-school horror homage.
Don’t misunderstand me – Insidious: Chapter 2 is not a great movie. But as very middling horrors go, it’s cheap, cheerful and evil children-laden entertainment.
The story picks up almost exactly where its predecessor left off, with the Lambrat family recovering from the endless series of possessions, hauntings and astral projections that had left matriarch Renai (Rose Byrne) terrified, and patriarch Josh (Patrick Wilson), well – not himself. Moving in with Grandma Lorraine (Barbara Hershey), the family have barely unpacked their sons’ clothes and the baby’s activity centre when things start going bump in the night.
Like Insidious, the overly-complicated plot rapidly becomes confused, with its surplus of characters lowering the emotional impact of every supernaturally-caused death. But one gets the feeling that the creators were merely looking for excuses to reference their favourite horror films, bringing in elements of Psycho, Poltergeist, and even – in a moment of hilarious, self-aware indulgence - their own work. And damn, can they work a cliché.
Though the pace lags, plot droops, and the franchise-friendly ending feels somewhat inevitable, there are ample jumps as well as laughs and the likeable cast keep their tongue firmly in cheek at all times.
One for silly spirits.