Review of Insidious (2011) by Nixy — 26 Sep 2012

Overall, I thought this film was okay. I'm a fan of Rose Byrne, I think she's a hugely underrated actress and so I had high hopes for this film, but I was a little disappointed. Horror is my favourite and most watched genre and as such I didn't think that this film really offered up anything new.

Firstly the good. Elements of this film were undoubtedly creepy. Certain aspects of the storyline were chilling and the overall concept was, I thought, quite original. In other words, it wasn't your typical 'haunted house' story where things go bump and people scream (but never seem to move house.

...), so for that I was grateful. Also, I think what ruins a lot of horror films is when someone does something that makes you think 'Well I wouldn't have done that' (like walking into a scary room without looking for a light, no one in the history of mankind has ever done that.

..) because that disconnects you from the action and makes you sit there with a slightly unimpressed look on your face at how stupid the person on screen seems to be. But this film didn't really have any of those moments, they all seemed to be fairly rational, sensible people making fairly rational, sensible decisions.

That made the whole story better for me. !However! There came a point where that was no longer the case. What started off as a genuinely uncomfortable and creepy film turned into what I thought was a bit like a Michael Jackson 'Thriller' video out-take.

I went from, 'well there goes any hope of me sleeping for the next ten years', to '....did that really just happen (insert appropriate unimpressed face here)' in the space of about 30 minutes. I felt like the plot got too ahead of itself and everyone went a bit CGI crazy.

Elements were still scary, but I felt like the film started to rely too much on jump scares than actual, real terror moments. Anyone would jump if you made a loud noise and shoved a scary picture in their face, to me that isn't the same and just produces moments that are totally forgettable.

So on the whole, I thought this film was okay. Parts were original, well thought out and outright creepy but the direction that the film went in let it down completely. A great film if you're with a friend and want to have a few scares but nothing I can see being remembered any time in the near future.