Oltre i confini del male - Insidious 2

I really liked the first Insidious and though it was suspenseful and creepy, after seeing Insidious: Chapter 2 I thought it was a good sequal taking place after the first.

It was creepy and suspenseful and the acting from Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne and Lin Shaye were still really good also the child acting was pretty good.

James Wan made a good sequal to a really good movie, the movie is a possession movie but it changes it up and does something new that works well.

I won't spoil how the first Insidious movie ended just in case you haven't seen it, but I think this is worth watching like the first.

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.

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.

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

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