James Wan’s “Insidious” is a good old fashioned, shit a little in your pants, ghost story. A throwback to haunted house films of the 70’s and early 80’s that relies more on boo-gotcha moments than it does on excessive blood and gore.
Patrick Wilson (“Hard Candy”) and Rose Byrne (TV’s “Damages”) star as loving parents to two young boys and a baby girl who move into a somewhat spooky new home. It’s not long before their oldest son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) falls from a ladder in the attic and inexplicably ends up in a strange coma for over three months.
During that time a series of strange, ghost-like events occur in the house that would have any ghost busting dork eagerly powering up their proton packs. Byrne, however, is less enchanted with these visitations and insists on moving, to which Wilson reluctantly agrees.
Once in their new new home it comes as no surprise that not only do the hauntings continue, but they have grown in intensity. The parents then enlist the help of recommended spiritualist (Lin Shaye) and her two stereotypically dorky assistants (screenwriter Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson) to uncover the mystery of the ghost attacks and their connection to Dalton’s coma.
“Insidious” may have more than a few similarities to Spielberg’s haunted house masterpiece “Poltergeist,” but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Sure we have the child in danger and the dedicated parents motifs working here as the forces of evil inhabit modern environments, but writer Whannell and director Wan still manage to put their own spin on the material to separate it from the horror gorefest trends of the past several years.
Sometimes less is more; especially in haunted house films where it’s always far more effective to create an unsettling feeling with the audience than it is to pour buckets of blood upon the screen. James Wan punctuates this unease with several music stab, boo scare moments that even had this battle hardened Film Warrior jumping in his seat on several occasions.
There is no greater satisfaction for a filmmaker than when their material generates a visceral response from the audience.
I wasn’t crazy about Wan’s previous ghost story effort (“Dead Silence”), but here he’s managed to find the right balance of scares and story that more often pays homage to classic haunted house quest items from the past than it does trying to out do them.
Adding to the sharply written material are several well done performances, including Wilson and Byrne as the besieged parents, Lin Shaye (New Line CEO Robert Shaye’s sister) as the Zelda Rubenstein (“Poltergeist”) of the piece, and Barbara Hershey, who underwent her own paranormal assault in the 1982 classic, “The Entity.”
I endorse any quest item that achieves what it sets out to do. “Insidious” is a well crafted funhouse chock full of boo scare moments at every turn that will have you gripping your armrest (or your date) on more than one occasion during the 102 minute running time.
Now excuse me while I go change my pants.
“Deeds, not words…”
0 comments:
Post a Comment