Just as it will undoubtedly please many to hear that the latest feature from the team behind Saw is not the gore-heavy torture porn of their debut, it will surprise few to hear that it’s, well, not exactly a subtle affair. On the contrary, Insidious provides such an onslaught of possessed children, creaking floorboards, screeching violin music, scary old women and demonic figures that the experience is akin to walking through a funfair’s haunted house.
Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne) have just moved into an old Victorian house when their eldest son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) falls and hits his head. Though initially fine, the next morning he can’t be wakened, and after three months of inexplicable unconsciousness, doctors give up, allowing him to be cared for by his parents. But when Dalton comes home, a strange presence seems to accompany him. Renai begins hearing voices over the baby monitor and catching glimpses of shadowy figures, while at night doors fling open without cause as the grandfather clock ticks on.
It’s a brilliant opening act, combining hugely entertaining jumps with genuinely creepy moments, and as Renai’s visions follow her to different houses, the tension mounts. But director James Wan’s deference to the excessive soon kicks in, and as lengthy explanations regarding astral projections are followed by a tedious game of chasing with ridiculous Darth Maul devils, the atmosphere is lost faster than extremities in Jigsaw’s Lair. Wan has ignored the cardinal rule of scary films: from Saw to Jaws, the suggestion of lurking horrors is always more disturbing than its reveal.
But maybe that’s the point. Insidious fails miserably as a scary film, but if entered into in the spirit of a haunted house ride, this will matter little. Silly, excessive, full of predictably costumed ghouls, unintentional laughs and constant jumpy moments, Insidious will have its target audience giddily clinging to their dates. But to make a truly scary film, Wan needs to learn that it’s always better to leave the devil in the details.