We all have our own personal demons. Ghosts of our past that we wish we could forget. Ours are of course metaphorical because if they were otherwise life would just become a living hell. The Lambert family are all too familiar with these entities. Their experiences are enough to last a lifetime. Insidious showed us how terrifying entities we can’t see can be, and how this family came to be haunted for almost 2 generations. Then Insidious: Chapter 2 came along to needlessly explain the origin of the first spirit to haunt the family decades ago, while simultaneously trying to scare us. Emphasis on the word “trying”.
We join the Lambert family right where we left them last. Renai (Rose Byrne), having just discovered the dead, strangled body of occultist/psychic Elise (Lin Shaye) in the living room, finds a picture of who killed Elise. The entity that has been haunting her husband Josh (Patrick Wilson) has taken his body and used it murder Elise. While Renai and his mother Lorraine (Barbara Hershey) know something is up with Josh, they are just relieved to have their son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) back with them. The peace doesn’t last long as strange ghosts start appearing once again.
We get a glimpse into the past as young Elise and Lorraine try to figure out just what is after child Josh. They aren’t able to figure it out so the next best choice is to hypnotize Josh into forgetting about it in order to suppress his ability. Unfortunately this band-aid solution is only masking a much darker secret. One that they must uncover if they have any hope of saving their family.
Insidious: Chapter 2 is a sick movie. Not in the topical sense, but more in the medical sense. It suffers from a condition called Sequel Syndrome. It most commonly occurs when you take a successful film and try to recreate its success by adding an unnecessary sequel to it. This film takes a look into the origin of the old lady in black and in doing so makes the mistake of defining her. The greatest suspense was created when you didn’t know the entities origins or intentions, so by figuring out her motive you essentially killed the characters mystique.
The loss of suspense would have acceptable if the story weren’t a muddled mess. The biggest mistake made was assuming that the audience wouldn’t question the leaps made when dealing with the complexities of astral projection and the spirit world. The footage that wasn’t being directly recycled from the first film made no logical sense. Although you were told what happened, you never find out how or why it was even possible for it to have happened in the first place. Confusing right?
The visual style of James Wan is good as usual. You can see how he has grown, especially after The Conjuring. Like The Conjuring, the performances are great, especially from Rose Byrne. Insidious: Chapter 2 chose to repeat the essence of the final act of its predecessor, which was arguably the most out-of-place part of the film. Adding cheesy humor to the climax of Insidious was one of the few flaws the horror film had. That flaw was exponentially amplified in the sequel with the two technicians who helped Elise. The humor (many times unintentional) diffused the few scares to be had in this film. It felt like watching a more adult version of Scooby Doo. It had everything except the repeated use of the word “Zoinks!” (thinking about it, they may have used it once).
There are many symptoms of Sequel Syndrome, but without the right treatment it always leads to the same result: Film Failure. Insidious: Chapter 2 tried to duplicate its previous success but instead ended up repeating it previous failures on a much larger scale. Incoherent plot leaps and no scares make this you’re average bad horror film, and not what we’ve come to expect from horror expert James Wan.
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RATING: ★★★★★(5/10 stars)
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