Insidious Chapter 2

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.

When you are making a horror movie it always helps to have a few things around in the movie in order to help set the mood. Things like creaky old doors, a piano, and preferably an old and creepy looking house. Now these are not absolutes, but they can help for sure. Horror movies are not like other movies, because there are so many possibilities for sequels, just look at the "Friday the 13th" series. In 2011 James Wan and Leigh Whannell brought us "Insidious", a story about a family that had unwelcome visitors in their house. The supernatural kind.

That family, the Lamberts, have gotten away from their house and the experience they had in it. Josh (Patrick Wilson), Renai (Rose Byrne), and their three children are all safe and move in with Josh's mom. At the beginning of the film you find out this is not Josh's fist experience with a sprit. It seems Josh has a gift where he sees dead people and with the help from Elise (Lin Shaye) he forgets that gift, until he uses it again to save his son from a place the living shouldn't be. That place I imagine is the same place Carol Anne from "Poltergeist" was in as well, but instead of talking through a TV, a tin can phone is used to communicate to the other side. Renai senses something is not right about Josh, a sentiment that is shared by Josh's mother as well. So with the help from a man named Carl (Steve Coulter) and two guys who provide the comic relief, they all set out to free Josh and his family from the evil that haunts them.

The story picks up exactly where the first film ended, which makes the chapter 2 a perfect title. There are so many more possible chapters to this story, because let's face it there are a lot of ghosts out there. "Insidious: Chapter 2" is part ghost story and part detective story, as we try to unravel what is following the Lamberts around. Lucky, unlike what he did with "Saw" we are still under the direction of James Wan and he keeps us on the same path as the first film. If you are going for jump out of your seat frights, then this is not the film for you. There are some moments that may make you jump a little, thanks to some good camera work, but this movie is more like "Seven" than say, "The Conjuring". In a genre that seems to be getting everything right at the moment, "Insidious: Chapter 2" doesn't disappoint. The only thing that could improve, is to have a little less common sense moments, you know those moments where a character does the thing everyone knows they shouldn't. I think it is very fitting to release this film on Friday the 13th, because like that franchise, you hope this one also has a long life making us afraid to sleep with the lights off.

Brian Taylor

http://the2cinemen.blogspot.com/

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.

When I heard that they were making a sequel to this, I was both over-hyped with excitement and very nervous because let's face it, sequels rarely live up to the expectations of the originals. Thankfully though, this one did not disappoint (relative to the extent of other sequels).

It starts off directly where the original left off, which is nice because there is not a huge time gap in-between. Not only do they continue chapter 2 right where the first chapter left off, but the story also goes more in-depth with Josh's past.

Will every hard-core fan of Insidious be impressed by this sequel? Of course not. Insidious: Chapter 2 felt very different from the original. It was mostly because Insidious seemed more unique when it came out, while this chapter is more of the same with a few exceptions (e.g., possession). Without giving any major spoilers away, I will say that the last 30 minutes seemed more of a "slasher" movie than a paranormal movie, which may turn some hard-core Insidious fans away.

The scares also seemed forced at times, possibly from trying too hard to make the sequel as good, if not, better than the original, but it was still suspenseful regardless.

Overall 6/10

Insidious: Chapter 2 starts up almost right after the original Insidious ended with Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne) Lambert reunited with their son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) after his spirit was held prisoner by a demon in an afterlife dimension called 'The Further'. But, as we saw in the final frames, something else was now inhabiting Josh's body and it had strangled paranormal investigator Elise (Lin Shaye) to death. We pick up as the unsuspecting family, including older son Foster (Andrew Astor) and their infant daughter Kali, have moved in with Josh's mother Lorraine (Barbara Hershey) while police investigate Elise's mysterious death in their house. They are barely moved in when supernatural occurrences start to begin again with objects moving, spectral voices, apparitions appearing and dear old dad acting very strange. While Renai tries to deal with the fact that supernatural forces are still with them, Josh tries to convince her all is well and Lorraine decides to team up with Elise's former assistants paranormal investigators Specs (Leigh Whannell who also wrote the screenplay) and Tucker (Angus Sampson) along with one of the original investigators from Josh's childhood haunting, Carl (Steve Coulter) to get down to the bottom of these haunted hi-jinx once and for all. And that is all I will say about the story as, despite some familiar trappings, James Wan (The Conjuring) takes this installment in some clever directions and once again uses the familiar elements very well. We get to know the story behind the evil woman in black seen in the last film and even revisit The Further though, this time it is inventively linked to events in the first film. The pace is a bit slower and more methodical this time round but, since this film is a bit of a mystery as well as haunting, it takes it's time to let the story unfold and secrets be revealed. We still get some spooky scenes but, it is refreshingly mixed in with Lorraine and co's equally goose bump inducing investigation. And what they find is deviously fun. The film is not quite as lively as Insidious part one but, I liked the mystery element and the film earned points with me for using it's return to 'The Further' a bit more clever and less silly then last time. That is the point where the first film lost it's grip on me and here I like how it was done and was with this supernatural chiller up to the spooky end. Wan is a good director and he takes what could have been a ho-hum retread and makes it a fun follow-up. He gets good performances out of all his cast and while I found Patrick Wilson to be bland in both Insidious and The Conjuring, he gets a far more lively performance out of him here. He gets to ham it up a bit and it suits him. The film has some beautiful and creepy visuals, as is Wan's trademark, and Joseph Bishara's score adds some nice atmosphere too. So in conclusion, while the story elements are more familiar; we've seen some of it before and the pace a bit slower, Wan does give us a spooky mystery to add to the paranormal activity and makes much more clever use of his otherworldly 'Further'. He also gives us some clever answers to the questions left by his first Insidious and that all adds up to a spooky fun time at the movies. Also stars House Of The Devil's Joceline Donahue as young Lorraine in some equally clever flashback sequences that tie into the rest of the film in a fun way.