Insidious (17/05/11) [Archive]

Insidious (2010)

Director - James Wan
Starring - Patrick Wilson & Rose Byrne

4 stars

If you’re like me, you’ll be sure to search high and low for a good horror movie. Nobody likes to hear the word ‘good’ used when describing their in-depth thoughts on a film, but there is something about the term ‘good horror movie’ that gets the ears perking of all those adrenaline freaks out there. As a kid, I used to hate horror films. I wouldn’t be able to sleep for extended periods of time and being alone in any respect was a petrifying thought. Now I’m a little bit older, I love the stuff, and there is nothing quite like a good horror flick in a darkened cinema on a massive screen with quality speakers surrounding you to ensure there really is no escape. Sure, watching them at home with your mates and drinking every time ominous music is heard can be fun, but there’s nothing quite like the real deal. Insidious gets the tick of approval from me, and when the boys who originally created the Saw franchise are in charge (directed by James Wan and written by Leigh Whannel) you know that you’re in for a treat.

On it’s exterior, Insidious can appear to be your ‘run of the mill’ horror film. Young family with kids, big new house with plenty of creaks and some sort of haunting that is plaguing them all. It does have a Paranormal Activity type feel to it but it is in no way a rip off and does eventually take it’s own direction. What’s actually haunting this family (or more so there young son Dalton) isn’t actually the big twist. It’s explained with ample time to go but the process of fixing it still has terrifying consequences. In fact, the entire concept and story line is quite compelling and not the ridiculous and cliché stuff that you can become accustomed to in modern day horror. They introduce new knowledge to the audiences about spirits and astro walking and all kinds of other terms that are justified well enough for viewers to continue on track. So as the family tries ridding their son of this curse-like state and bring peace back into their home, all kinds of stories from (the father) Josh’s past come to the fore. The pieces of the puzzle all start to fall into place (as you would expect from this team) and it becomes edge of your seat viewing.

I will more than happily put my hand up to say that I was genuinely frightened watching this. There was more than one occasion where I whispered to Winga, who was sitting next to me, ‘I’m so scared’. And that’s the beauty of it. Like any film, to truly enjoy it and get into what the director wants you to feel, you really do have to just let yourself go. Get lost in the moment and in a horror film especially, this can really make or break what you take out of it.

The constant question is raised by people who can’t stand this genre, ‘why do you like to deliberately scare yourself?’ It’s valid, and to be fair, I don’t know why I put myself through it half the time. There’s something so exhilarating about getting the blood pumping and adrenaline flying that makes me crave some more. I can one hundred percent guarantee that for me, Insidious most certainly filled that void. It gave me my horror film fix and nowadays that seems to be getting harder and harder to find. I find myself in a position where I put my hands over my face, leave my eyes in the clear and underneath my palms I am just smiling and thinking two, almost contradictory, thoughts – ‘why do I do this to myself’ and, ‘God, I love this’. I’m not going to begin justifying this thought process but I seem to get some sort of (sick) gratification out of it so I just go with it.

As I said, these boys know how to do horror. When they do it, they do it properly and I will promise to continue to seek out more and more of their work over the years. Seriously, if this is your cup of tea, you will not be disappointed. I was still shaking some time afterwards and Joffa almost tripped down the stairs on exit. Now that is what you want to get out of a movie.