Insidious Chapter 2

There is something more frightening than any curse or apparition that resides in movies; it is the blight of terrible sequel, and Insidious: Chapter 2 is haunted by it. Audience would come and expect the same terror from the original, but sadly will only find inferior version of it, a formulaic possession horror flick with little charm and plenty of high pitch noises. To its credit, it does bring some good acting and direction. The script also works as a continuation, but perhaps because the mystery has dwindled; it only manages to be an average horror without the same chill its predecessor has.

Story follows the events of Insidious where Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson) returned with his son from the Further, an astral realm. However, an entity is believed to be latching onto him as the clairvoyance Elise Ranier (Lin Shaye) is found dead near him. His family grows restless from the apparent continuous haunting and ultimately tries to solve the problem despite the grim obstacles ahead. The plot is rather bland, there's simply a lack of tension as the terrorizing entity is somewhat predictable and plastic.

Patrick Wilson delivers a good performance, he displays more variety of emotions to establish the dread. In some scenes he gives off cold enigmatic feel to puzzle the audience. Returning cast reprise their roles, Ross Bryne as Renai Lambert does a fine job, although her display of motherly concern at the first title was slightly better. The two ghost hunters are back, this time for more comedy relief than anything. There are probably too many humorous scenes, some are unintentional, in this sequel.

Its use of music is cringe-worthy, in fact even with only the sound, it'd be quite terrifying. The scares don't have the same weight though, as they are reduced to simple bursts rather than real frightful ones. James Wan's camera angle is great; he casually makes the viewers think there might be more in scenes than there really are, especially with a hint of contrasting color, shadowy background or some objects in outer peripheral vision.

The movie does poorly when the mystic of its entities is unveiled. Getting into fisticuffs with ghosts diminish the atmosphere since they seem unreal, part of me inadvertently immediately knew it's just make-up and sound effect put together for an illusion. Take away the jarring build up, replace it with mediocre possession scheme, even if the directing is well done, and you'll have a subpar sequel. It still performs its scare tricks decently, so at the very least it'll make you flinch a couple of times.

Insidious brought us the usual haunting story, with a couple new elements sprinkled in. Chapter 2 does a great job of furthering itself from the usual fare, by expanding on the elements that made it different. One on the elements of this franchise is the focus on "Astral Projection", which is a person subconsciously leaving his/her body and traveling though a spirit realm (called the "Further" in this movie), leaving the body empty until the soul returns. While projecting, the soul can interact with other spirits, good and bad. Chapter 2 picks right up from where the first ended (SPOILER FOR THE 1ST MOVIE! SKIP TO NEXT PARAGRAPH TO AVOID!) - the father succeeds in rescuing his son's soul, but something else has taken the father's body in the process. Is it as scary as the first? That's debatable...if you liked the scares from the first movie, then you'll get a kick out of some of the tension- filled moments in this one. If you weren't a fan, then it'll probably just be more of the same. My opinion - slightly fewer scary moments, but definitely a few quality jumps, perhaps of a higher quality than the first. (There's one 3-hit combo in particular that I thought was really good.) I will say that I enjoyed how the total story has evolved. Chapter 2 adds a few layers to the lore of this franchise that sparked my interests, and gives it some good depth. The script is infinitely better this time around. Patrick Wilson outdoes his previous performance, and I love anything that Barbara Hershey does. We even get a few laughs here and there. And James Wan does well to use the 'common-sense-as-viewers- applied-in-the-movie' technique again. Without giving anything away...when you get a blatant warning, YOU LISTEN TO IT. Sound editing was much better this time around, although they still rely a good amount on the usual dead silence broken by LOUD CRASHES OF NOISE AND CREEPY MUSIC... Overall, Chapter 2 makes several improvements on the first, and while, depending on your tastes, this sequel may or may not be as scary as the first, I think it's tough to deny that this is a all-around better, more entertaining movie. And, being such a low-risk, low-budget project, I'm sure a 3rd movie will be justified. Insidious: Chapter 2 scores a 3.5 out of 5 on the BDBOS.

Supernatural horror plenty of weird phenomenon , frights , creepy beings , shocks , and eerie events . The Lambert family formed by father (Patrick Wilson) , mother (Rose Byrne) and children move temporarily into the old house of Lorraine Lambert (Barbara Hershey). Lorraine is the old friend of formerly deceased Elise Rainier (Lim Shaye) , she brings again the group of ghost hunters Specs (Leigh Whannell , also screenwriter) and Tucker (Angus Sampson) to resolve the ghastly mystery . The haunted Lambert family seeks to uncover the mysterious childhood secret that has left them dangerously connected to the spirit world . Little do they know that the house is haunted . The family looks to prevent evil spirits from a realm called The Further .

This is a haunted child movie that contains restless horror as when the invisible and threatening beings attack . The story is split between the present day and 1986, where a young Elise Rainier is called in to help Lorraine Lambert and her son , again starred by Patrick Wilson as Josh Lambert , Rose Byrne as Renai Lambert , Ty Simpkins as Dalton , Lin Shaye a Elise Rainier , Barbara Hershey as Lorraine Lambert , Steve Coulter as Carl and Leigh Whannell as Specs . Tension , creepy atmosphere , genuine chills , suspense is continued and appear lurking and menacing into dining room , hallway , basement and rooms . Great loads of screams , shocks , exploitation and terror abound with the usual poltergeists phenomenon caused by the weird entities . It's recreated with magnificent make-up and high grade plethora special effects which are frightening and horrifying the spectator . Writer Leigh Whannell stated at the Toronto Film Festival that when he wrote the film he had a list of horror movie clichés posted above him, so he could avoid using them ; he said the first one was to make sure the family moved into a new house once the haunting started . Eerie musical score by Joseph Bishara creating a spooky atmosphere. Dark as well atmospheric cinematography by John R. Leonetti ; a majority of the film was shot inside Linda Vista Community Hospital, which also doubles as the abandoned hospital that the characters visit .

The film was well directed by James Wan and it was shot in just a few weeks ; he even has a cameo on a computer wallpaper with Specs and Tucker . Wan is an expert writer and filmmaker on terror genre as he has demonstrated in ¨Saw¨ saga , ¨Dead silence¨, among others . James Wan subsequently directed ¨The Conjuring¨ also starred by Patrick Wilson , another terror film in which keeps it horror with yet another haunted house film . And of course , his biggest success ¨Insidious¨ , it was followed by this ¨Insidious Chapter 2¨ . Furthermore , producers are preparing ¨Insidious 3¨, as Leigh Whannell himself announced that actor Dermot Mulroney will star in Insidious: Chapter 3, making for a choice that many genre fans should love . This third film will be directed and written by Leigh Whannell . Jason Blum and his Blumhouse Productions, which produced both Insidious and Insidious: Chapter 2, is producing the next installment along with Oren Peli and James Wan . Steven Schneider, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Peter Schlessel, Lia Buman and Entertainment One's Xavier Marchand are exec producing.

Insidious Chapter 2.

I really liked Insidious Chapter 1, it was a really good horror movie after a long time in my opinion. When I heard they were making a second part (no surprise there as part 1 ending suggested it clearly), I had some doubts because sequels of Horror movies ALWAYS suck. I'm glad this didn't follow the tradition.

The story follows the previous part and all the cast is back. IT was good and answered some of the questions that were raised in the previous part. The horror stuff wasn't that much. Same goes for the atmosphere and tension. I really liked the fact that the two detectives were also back and they had some funny scenes too. Would be awesome if those two can get a whole movie.

It wasn't as good as part 1 but still was a good horror movie. James wan sure is a savior of Horror movies in these times.

7/10.

It took me a while to watch 'Insidious' and its follow ups, with so much going on with my studies and commitments and with an ever growing watch and review list. Decided to finally watch them all, with the intent of reviewing the latest film as part of my quest to see as many 2018 films as possible and wanting to see how it compared with the previous outings. Also with an appreciation, if not quite undying love, for horror.

Although there are people who understandably dislike it, found myself enjoying the first 'Insidious'. It didn't blow me away but it was well made and genuinely scary. So watched 'Insidious: Chapter 2' hoping it would be as good. 'Insidious: Chapter 2' for me was a watchable second entry but comparing it to the first, it is not as good and a disappointment in comparison. There are big drawbacks but there are good things here too.

First and foremost, 'Insidious' llooks great, especially for horror films released in recent years (too many of which have looked like they were made on the schlocky cheap). It looks slick and stylish while having a spooky setting and suitably nightmarish lighting. The effects are also suitably eerie. Although a bit too loud in spots, the music is hauntingly atmospheric.

James Wan directs with ease and real engagement and there are some genuine shocks and some creepy scares and dread. The first part is not as restrained as the first part of the first film, but when the film takes more time it is very effective. The acting, with the first film's cast returning, is good, with a particularly strong performance from Patrick Wilson. Did care for the characters, they were not ones that bored or frustrated me. The threat looks good and provides some eeriness.

Regrettably, 'Insidious: Chapter 2' has drawbacks. It does lack tension and suspense and other scares are predictable and felt like throwing in as many horror elements as one can muster regardless of originality. Some of the film is on the dull side, while the second half gets far too camp and histrionic, towards the end things get so over-the-top and senseless that one is laughing rather than feeling scared.

Moreover, 'Insidious: Chapter 2' fails to make sense and gets muddled in the latter stages, with an ending that's rushed, convoluted, silly and clichéd. The first film was derivative, this is even more so with the similarities to 'Psycho' and 'The Shining' being blatant and somehow not feeling like homages. The predictability factor is high and the script is also far worse here, very awkward and corny with some comedy that felt like it just didn't belong.

Concluding, a watchable second entry but underwhelming. 5/10 Bethany Cox