Review of Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015) by Reysonpoint — 06 Jun 2015

2010 was the year that director James Wan (Insidious, The Conjuring, Furious 7) introduced us to as well as scared us with the film Insidious. By 2013 James Wan gave us a pretty good sequel by the name of Insidious: Chapter 2. Now, this year (2015) James Wan decided to produce a third film and pass the director’s chair to actor/director Leigh Whannell (Saw, Insidious Trilogy) who in my opinion did a decent job with this third installment Insidious: Chapter 3.

The plot and vibe of the film is very similar to the previous ones. Insidious: Chapter 3 is definitely better than most horror movies that are released now a days but still are nothing compared to other James Wan’s horror classics, like the original Insidious, or The Conjuring. The film involves seventeen-year-old Quinn Benner played by Stefanie Scott (Jem and the Holograms) who shows up to Elise’s (Lin Shaye) house seeking her help in order to contact her dead mother from the paranormal world. Elise tries to help Quinn but midway through her reading finds that things don’t go as planned. This is when Elise discovers that an evil spirit/demon is stalking Quinn. As the film goes on we see how the demon does everything in his power to make Quinn’s life a living nightmare until he eventually takes her to “The Further”.

Now, as for the characters none of them really made a good impression unlike the original. Along with the great original characters, the evil spirit and demons from the originals, made the films creepier and far more intense than this one. Sadly this time around everything fell flat and was ineffective or unsatisfying. The only person that made the movie for me was Lin Shaye (There’s Something About Mary, Insidious 1 & 2) who played Elise. Elise was a sweet surprise for me; she was the bad ass of the film. Some of her scenes made the movie far more enjoyable. Her role expands far more than it ever did in previous films which I love. Here we learn from where she comes from and what she’s been through. As for Leigh Whannell as an actor he did a great job embracing the same character that he portrayed in previous films. as for the director, he does a great job, especially exploring different themes within the characters like Quinn, and Elise.

In conclusion Insidious: Chapter 3 is a decent horror film that has some great moments that allowed great characters like Elise to finally shine on screen. As for the scares, some are visually good scares that contain great imagery while sadly, the rest consist of jump scares that we have been seeing a lot of recently. With all that said it was obvious that director James Wan was not in the director’s chair, which made the film lack suspense and good character development. Because of this, the film ended up being enjoyable to watch but also forgettable.

Final Score: 5.