The Lowdown: Uh oh. A horror movie sequel. Never a good sign. Especially when it’s a sequel to one of the best horror movies of the last decade, and right after the director, James Wan, released The Conjuring, his best horror film to date. Insidious: Chapter 2 is much better than your average horror movie sequel, but it isn’t as good as Insidious.
1. The Plot: When we last left the Lambert family, the son, Dalton (Ty Simpkins) was brought back from the spirit world, but the family senses that something else might also have been brought back. Elise (Lin Shaye), the paranormal investigator and medium who helped the family, is found mysteriously strangled and suspicion falls on the husband, Josh (Patrick Wilson), who has been acting strangely ever since the incident. Renai (Rose Byrne), his wife, senses that something is wrong, but can’t say exactly what. When things begin to go bump in the night once more and threaten the Lamberts, they must find and destroy their link to the spirit world to end the evil that haunts them.
2. The Characters: Insidious: Chapter 2 brings back the entire cast of Insidious plus one new character, but the only standout performance is by Patrick Wilson (The Conjuring), who is essentially the main character. Wilson stretches his acting chops here a lot more than he did in The Conjuring, since he is basically playing two characters.
GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!
The rest of the cast does little more than act scared and scream a lot. I understand that doing so convincingly isn’t an easy task, but I felt that Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, and Lin Shaye were underused this time around. Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson are the comic relief as Specs and Tucker, Elise’s bumbling sidekicks. It could have been so easy to make these two characters annoying, but thankfully, they aren’t. The only new character in the film is Carl, played by Steve Coulter (The Conjuring, The Hunger Games). He was Elise’s ex-partner before she recruited Specs and Tucker. He carries dice around that have all the letters of the alphabet on them, and he uses them to receive messages from spirits. Basically, he exists for exposition and scary scenes; he uses his dice a lot.3. From Chills to Thrills: Insidious: Chapter 2 is actually one part horror and two parts thriller. The film’s first act is rife with jump scares, with little of the foreboding, gloomy atmosphere that made the first film so great. Some of the jump scares are effective, but there are almost no slow-burning moments of terror like in The Conjuring. The second act brings us into horror territory by bringing the aforementioned effective horror elements back, as well as introducing new twists and turns in the story. One intriguing new element is the usage of found-footage-type scenes. Carl, Lorraine, Specs, and Tucker investigate a spooky, abandoned house, and the whole time, Specs and Tucker videotape everything that goes on. This found-footage section doesn’t bring anything new to the table, but it is much more well-handled than most found-footage horror films. The atmosphere helps ramp up the tension, and there is always a sense of danger looming over the characters, as if something could happen at any time.
Tension!
Sadly, that found-footage segment of the film is pretty much where the “horror” part of Insidious: Chapter 2 ends. From there, there is little reliance on atmosphere or unsettling imagery. A race against time keeps things tense and exciting, but in a way that resembles a thriller. It’s well executed, but it feels tame. I guess that’s the PG-13 rating talking.The Bottom Line: Insidious: Chapter 2 is better than most horror movie sequels and is one of the better PG-13 horror movies out there, but it still falls behind its predecessor. It’s well-written and well-acted, but its story and characters are a bit uneven. Sadly, Insidious: Chapter 2 ends with what could very well be another sequel hook. Please Hollywood, for the love of all that is good and holy, just stop with the freakin’ sequels!!!
Insidious: Chapter 2 is property of Blumhouse Productions, Entertainment One, and FilmDistrict. This review was written by me.
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