This franchise used to be really scary. Now? These films just seem kinda tiresome. They’ve gone from the pinnacle of supernatural fright to “well, I guess that guy is kinda scary, I guess.” Like if Freddy Krueger became a regular in your book club. “Does anyone have any suggestions for next week? Freddy, you can put your hand down; we know you’re gonna say ‘Stephen King.’ “ (Cut to Freddy, who looks kinda deflated.)
What made Insidious films so … insidious is the thin line between reality and the spooky deathworld. Past films made it seem those cursed with the ability to communicate with the dead regretted such to the point of being suicidal. As of Insidious: Out of the Further, this seems more like a job hazard than a genuine fear. Today’s unfortunately seer is Gemma (Amelia Eve). Gemma is a single mother and dental hygienist … and tell the audience what’s she’s playing for, Don.
Gemma start having old people visions, which I wouldn’t recommend outside visiting a home. Then, one day the same geezer shows up in her dental chair and it’s clear he hasn’t had a cleaning … ever. [If I’m being honest, this fogey’s mouth was easily the scariest thing in the film.] And, to be honest, evil dentistry … haven’t seen that since Marathon Man. Of course, here, the patient is evil, not the doctor. And when this freak produces an Alien-like second set of teeth to bite Gemma, our
heroine knocks herself out and ends up in the world of the dead, here called The Further, which is also where Metallica lives, I believe.
Before we know it. Heck, before she knows it, Gemma is immersed in the afterworld of endless terror and ennui. The thing that defines this other world more than anything elsde is lack of decent lighting. Did nobody pay the electric bill … or is it really hard to get a dead electrician? Maybe that availability window is infinite; that’s what it seems like when I’m waiting on a plumber.
I digress.
The biggest problem with Insidious: Out of the Further is that exactly when it is supposed to be scariest, it gets really confusing. You want your audience frightened, not puzzled, movie. I sat through this thing wishing I were watching, quite literally, any Aliens film instead.
There once was a hygienist named gemma
Suddenly challenged with some ghostly phlegm-ma
Should she clean the undead
Or get the doctor instead?
A quixotic supernatural dilemma
Rated PG-13, 106 Minutes
Director: Jacob Chase
Writer: Jacob Chase, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Leigh Whannell
Genre: So it’s NOT a death metal album promotion, then?
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: I dunno, maybe if you’ve never seen an Insidious film before. Maybe?
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “These films are not getting any better”
