Somehow, I missed Insidious when it first came out.  It released in 2010, which was a big year for my personal and professional life, so new movies were not a priority. Now that I’ve finally made time for it, I can see why audiences embraced it.  Insidious is a clever blend of a haunted house story, family horror, and children in peril, with some interesting twists.  After a suspenseful, almost slow-burn first half, the second half takes a turn into the wild side of ghost stories.  How does this fan favorite hold up? 

• Directed by: James Wan
• Written by: Leigh Whannell
• Starring: Patrick Wilson. Rose Byrne Ty Simpkins

This is not an excuse to talk about James Wan and Leigh Whannel again. Although, I am a fan of their collaborations, yes even Dead Silence. It’s underrated, come at me.  James Wan had said in interviews that Insidious was to prove that he could make films without gratuitous violence.  He succeeded; the scenes that are most effective are some of the most mundane.  Rose Byrne’s Renai walking through the house, while a ghost boy hides and plays just out of her sight, is a bloodless but effective moment.  I’ll come back to why in a bit.

The Story – Mild Spoilers Ahead

Insidious starts with a nice family dealing with mundane issues. They’ve recently moved into a new house, and tensions are high between mom Renai and dad Josh. There is a new baby, Kali, and two boys, older son Dalton and middle child Foster.  Everyone is trying to make things work, even as the dialogue hints at reoccurring issues in the marriage. The depth of his dialogue is one of Whannel’s strong suits, and it’s at its best here. Renai and Josh are likeable and relatable, and I’m already feeling dread knowing that something terrible is about to happen to this family. 

Sure enough, it does. One night Dalton falls from a ladder while exploring. Even though his injuries are minor, the next morning he does not wake up. Doctors can’t identify his mystery illness. They only know that he is in a coma. They set him up at home with a nurse and the necessary equipment, but no real solutions.  

Stress starts to wear down Renai and Josh. He starts working late and avoiding dealing with Dalton’s new condition, leaving Renai to deal with the strange occurrences surrounding Dalton’s illness on her own. At this point, the movie is framing Renai as a 100% reliable narrator. We see what she sees from an outsider’s perspective, not her own.  They could have easily made the hauntings a potential side effect of her stress, anxiety, and loneliness. Instead, they are a cause of them. To me, this elevates Insidious from so many similar movies and gives Renai more character than “hysterical mom”.  Whannel really tries with his female characters. I respect that, even if I haven’t completely forgiven him for Wolf Man yet. 

History Repeating

They also start dropping hints about Josh early on. While he’s avoiding dealing with the trauma at home, he’s having flashbacks to his own past.  The first twist comes after Renai is attacked by a spirit. Even if Josh doesn’t believe her when she says the house is haunted, she refuses to stay in their house one night longer.  He may not believe in ghosts, but he loves her and his family, so they move. 

Only, the problems and the spirits follow them. This is where the ghost boy comes in. This scene is so shocking because of all the things it represents, including the escalating danger for the family. Josh’s mother, Lorraine, offers to bring in someone to help: the amazing Lin Shaye as the medium Elise.  She brings with her two assistants, one of which is played by Leigh Whannel. He’s super cute and goofy in this role; so much so, I thought he wasn’t going to make it.  

Tonal Shifts

After Elise shows up, the tone of the movie shifts from slow, constant dread, to slightly bonkers supernatural action and exposition. Where Insidious falls down a bit, is the amount of info dumps we must get through. Dalton isn’t in a coma; his soul has wandered off into the Further. It’s a purgatory-like realm for astral projected souls. It’s mostly inhabited by damned souls looking to escape by inhabiting empty bodies like Dalton’s. Josh does not take this info well, until he finally spends time with Dalton. He notices drawings his son made before his accident, showing that demons have been preying on him for a while. 

Renai was the focus of the first half of the movie, and Josh is the heart of the second. The scene with Dalton is a great transition. Josh goes through a lot in a short amount of time, as he learns that not only are ghosts real, but the astral projection problem is also one that his son inherited from him.  His mother knows Elise because Josh needed her help when he was younger. He was haunted by a woman in black until Elise saved him and erased his memories somehow?   

Insidious doesn’t spend much time on the guilt that would go along with this knowledge, ‘cause we’re pretty heavy in crazy twist time. Josh needs to go off to the Further to get Dalton’s soul back. Josh’s trip through this dimension is disconcerting, and the design of the spirits is fantastic.  He makes it to the Red Door, the gateway to the Further, and where the demon posing the most risk to Dalton has its lair.  

A Word About the Demon

There are a lot of spirits and entities in Insidious. The one that is most dangerous to Dalton is the Red-Faced Demon. The less he’s shown, the more effective it is, except for his scenes in the lair. Up until that point, it’s been lurking in corners and behaving in a feral, animalistic manner. In his lair, he’s sitting and sharpening his finger-claws at what looks to be a small grinder, something like a blacksmith or iron worker might use. He’s surrounded by creepy dolls, and “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” is playing.  It’s a new set of bizarrely human characteristics that is so much worse than the previous version. I wish his design was 10% less Darth Maul, because everything else surrounding it is so good. 

Back to the Rescue

Josh finds Dalton in the demon’s lair, and the two of them flee. They’re chased by the demon while, in the real-world, spirits have noticed the two empty bodies and are looking to possess them, while the family members defend them.  Side note: the two extra kids have long been stashed someplace safe. They don’t really factor into the plot after the midway point, other than some dialogue addressing where they are.  I don’t miss them; they weren’t real characters, more like plot devices to signify a family with a lot of stress. I mean, one was a baby. 

On the way out, Josh comes face-to-face with the spirit that tormented him as a child. He finally has his chance to tell it to leave him alone and return safely to the real world with his son. But mid-celebration, Elise senses something is wrong with him and takes his picture. This reveals that he’s been possessed by the spirit. It strangles Elise. The movie ends with Renai discovering Elise’s body and the photo she took, right before she turns to see an off-camera Josh. With that, we end on one last twist. 

The Power of a Strong Lead

Patrick Wilson has established himself as a bit of a Scream King with the Insidious and Conjuring franchises. These also include some Annabelle and Nun movies. Not counting upcoming movies, there have been 10 movies he has appeared in, as either Josh Lambert or Ed Warren.  He’s perfect as the aspirational everyman. His characters, as they relate to horror, might stumble, make forgivable mistakes, or handle their trauma badly from time to time. They always work to make up for it, to be better for their family and the people that depend on them.  Josh is a great example of that.  What makes the ending so effective is the idea that this good person might be lost forever.  

Insidious is a great mix of family drama and the horror that comes from taking situations that occur every day and putting a supernatural spin on them. It’s every parent’s fear: having something wrong with your child, something your genes may have contributed to. Something you may be helpless against. There are a lot of movies that mix medical and supernatural (hmmm), but the focus on the family is what makes this work so well. 

Final Thoughts

Insidious has established itself as one of the more successful modern horror franchises. There have been to date, five movies, multiple haunted houses at “Halloween Horror Nights”, and a failed, touring live show.  Boy, I would have loved to see that. I don’t know if I’m going to keep going with this series. I’ll probably watch the second and The Red Door to at least finish out the Lambert’s story. 

If you haven’t seen Insidious, and you’re a fan of supernatural horror and family drama, you’ll get a lot out of it.  If you are looking for gore and a ton of jump scares, you might be a little disappointed. 

Insidious is currently available on Tubi.