Review of Insidious: The Last Key (2018) by Pipec — 10 Jan 2018

Universal and Blumhouse's horror franchise must remain under lock and key.

Despite the pic exhibits flaws here and there regarding timing, pace, narration, editing, artistic complex and performance level, each of these is strongly stirred up by two terribly nugatory triggers. The first one, without hesitation, is the disastrous writing process. Even though the storylines have been propelled by the characters created by Leigh Whannell, the first two films enjoyed Wan's endorsement and protection, evincing the insightful skills of the filmmaker to form nerve-racking situations, however, it's curious to detect that the progressive fading of the franchise begins at the moment that the Malay only credits as a co-producer, a fact that gave his buddy full freedom to write and even direct new stories over his creations, a deadly mistake. The Australian actor and screenwriter claimed to have found the ideally respectful way to re-enter the world of "Insidious", the key: a new leading role. However, his assertions are false by realizing that he has shattered to exhaustion a fictitious universe that had promising possibilities, full of ways to build moments of genuine terror.To make matters worse, with "The Last Key", the writer becomes an imminent danger to the franchise, he has not found a success either as a director, as a writer or an actor, being one of the shameful members of the comical hypercompetitive "ghost-hunting" couple. Digging up the past of a character who, although is charismatic and one of the few strengths of story, is already dead is not an evidence of overflowing originality or feasibility of entertainment; piecing together events, by way of prequels, over the reconstruction of a character's past doesn't bode good results for a genre film and so it is, Whannell's script tries to moralize Elise by means of the mold of heroin with infinite lives and a logos that shames a promising series of stories that, one day, was in the hands of groundbreaking minds. As for the horror sequences, the main and possibly the only purpose for most audiences, the decline in effectiveness is potentiated by cementing tension explicitly in jump-scares and unstoppable crescendos confining it in the list of those films of apparent horror, not achiving scenes that make moviegoers' hair stand on end is a big problem in this kind of film, likewise, it incredibly gets even worse as there are two sequences in which it could deploy a creating tension process moderately disturbing, just to be interrupted and abruptly disrupted by the incessant insertion of contiguous scenes or a traditional horrible cheap scare, simply depressing. The screenplay is another story. If the audience goes to the laughter and not the lament to react to your film, there is something to worry about. With thousands of indie films as supporting evidence, not always the most valuable actors are those who perform interpretations for an award, however, in this film, although none of them has a great recognition around the globe, no one can get the story off the ground, mainly by the melodramatic and outrageously laughable lines of dialogue.

Entrusting to a newcomer a franchise that was announcing its agony ultimatum is the other big trouble. Adam Robitel is a producer who has to his credit more functions as an editor and actor than as a filmmaker, it doesn't mean that he does not contemplate the necessary know-how to make a triumphant flick, however, the fourth installment of the franchise should have never ended up in his hands. The director is said to be the captain of the film boat, it's also said that an audiovisual work reflects the vision of such filmmaker, namely, on his or her shoulders lies the weight of the decisions that an idea must take here and there, this is why when "The Last Key" screening is over, it seems alarming the difficulty of the novice director to conceive an intense and refreshing complete pic, three missing epithets.

Inserting, with short shrift, digital and manual techniques averagely, as the footage runs, one warns a kind of freak show where creepy and cartoonish creatures file, fulfilling a simply acceptable function.

"Insidious: The Last Key" by Adam Robitel should throw away the last key that opens the door to the franchise. Rigid, intermittent and lack of any vestige of narrative power, the fourth installment digs up the laughable past of an emblematic character for a saga that seems lost, while simultaneously, buries the short possibilities of recovering the strengths from past times. That characteristic old-school touch that gave the images and sounds an obscure spooky nature is buried under exhibitionist visual dust. Anyone who pays a ticket for this silly idea, will have to get ready to go to the darkest side of Hollywood world, an uninspiring and vile place where men with leather briefcases and stately ties dictate sequels or conclusions of stories that, one day, could transcend a fictional barrier.