Insidious: Chapter 2, the sequel to the 2010 hit Insidious, directed by James Wan, takes us back to the very beginning.
Patrick Wilson (The Conjuring) is again Josh Lambert, the husband and father who took a trip into another realm to retrieve his son’s spirit, and then strangled the ghost whisperer on his return.
Josh and his son Dalton (Ty Simpkins- Iron Man 3) have the ability to “astral project” into a place between life and death. A place Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye-A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)) called the “further”. A place that’s filled with otherworldly spirits, demons and ghouls who just want a healthy body to live again. In the previous film, one of the main fiends was a frightening old woman and in Insidious: Chapter 2, we learn she’s not what we thought at all.
Insidious: Chapter 2 kicks off with a flashback to when young Lorraine was consulting young Elise about son Josh’s bad dreams. We already know this fact from part one. The story then picks up from how it ended; the aftermath of Elise’s murder and the possession of Josh by the Bride in Black.
When the Lambert family move into Josh’s mothers, Lorraine (Barbara Hershey), Josh begins to act strangely, which doesn’t go unnoticed by the rest of the family. Renai (Rose Byrne-28 Weeks Later, Get Him to the Greek), again tries to figure out where the new bumps in the house are coming from, why her husband is acting so weird, and why their infant baby seems to be a target for evil ghosts. A newly awakened Dalton continues to be kept up at night and Lorraine and Elise’s old ghost buddy Carl (Steve Coulter), finally figure out who The Bride in Black is.
Insidious: Chapter 2, manages to give us the jump scares many fans crave for in watching horror films, while also giving us a good story to get into. Many have dismissed Insidious: Chapter 2 as poor in comparison to the first but number 2 definitely has some great moments, and I would still recommend to fans of the first.
WICKED RATING: 6.5/10
Title: Insidious: Chapter 2
Director(s): James Wan
Writer(s): Leigh Whannel, James Wan
Stars: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey
Year: 2013
Studio/ Production Co: FilmDistrict, Stage 6 Films, Entertainment One
Budget: $5,000,000 (estimated)
Language: English
Length: 106mins
Sub-Genre: Thriller
