Review: Insidious by James Wann

Insidious is a horror film from 2010. It has been received fairly well, but is the film truly worth the trouble, or is it another one like many others? Read a review for this film here.

General information

• Film made in: 2010

• Country of origin: United States

• Director: James Wann

• Actors: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Ty Simpkins

Insidious

This film is about a family that moves into a new home. Strange things start happening pretty much immediately: books end up on the floor without a clear reason and Renai, the family's mother, hears someone through the baby intercom, but finds no-one when she goes to check. To make matters even worse, Josh and Renai's son Dalton ends up in a coma after falling down a ladder. Oddly enough the doctors can't find anything, but they're sure about one thing: his fall has nothing to do with it. Meanwhile stranger and stranger things keep happening in the house, until Renai has had enough and convinces Josh that they need to move.

But the problems aren't over yet. Indeed, they seem to become even worse. Josh's mother, Lorraine, calls in someone who can help them. A hidden past is revealed to save Dalton, but what if it's too late? Renai can only hope that everyone will get out of this unscathed.

My opinion

I had heard many good things about this film and, having become curious, I decided to watch it too. At first it seemed to be a typical film about spirits and I expected something similar to Poltergeist or Paranormal Activity. I enjoyed these films greatly, but it seemed unnecessary to me to have another film which tells the exact same thing. Luckily I soon turned out to be completely wrong: the film did contain originality and is even genuinely scary at certain moments.

There is little use of cheap jump effects; what makes it so scary is more the thought that something is not okay. Near the end there was a part I was less impressed with, and the story seemed to lead to a cliché ending as I had seen many times before. Fortunately, I was wrong here too, because that would have been a shame about the rest of the film. In fact, the end shocked me, and days later it still gives me goosebumps.

If you think about it, it is a fairly simple story, but definitely worth watching for horror lovers. Despite the fact that similar story lines have been done before, this film gives it something extra. You can enjoy it for days.

Sources: www.todio.nl