The Door Closes on the Insidious Series

Synopsis:  The Lamberts must go deeper into The Further than ever before to put their demons to rest once and for all.
Director: Patrick Wilson
Stars: Ty Simpkins, Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne

Several years ago, Leigh Whannell, after the success of the film Saw which he wrote, proved it wasn’t just a fluke when he struck gold again with a movie called Insidious. It told the story of evil spirits terrorizing the Lambert family. On a budget of $1.5 million, it made $100 million. You know what that means? Sequels! We got Insidious: Chapter 2, Insidious: Chapter 3, Insidious: The Last Key and now, finally, Insidious: The Red Door. The first four films have grossed over half a billion dollars worldwide.

Somewhere along the line Patrick Wilson, who plays the patriarch Josh Lambert, must have decided he truly appreciates the horror genre because, in addition to being involved with several of these films, he has also starred in several movies in the horror series The Conjuring.

His performances in these films are good, but it seems that he was looking for an additional challenge as he finds himself in the director’s chair for this final installment of the Insidious series. This marks Wilson’s directorial debut. The brain trust of the franchise is still intact, though. Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity), Jason Blum (Get Out) and James Wan (Saw) all serve as producers on this film. This is a murderer’s row (no pun intended) of horror genius behind this film.

In this story, Josh is divorced from Renai (Rose Byrne). They have three children together but have to negotiate when Josh can see the kids. He has been ‘going through something’, and as a result, his kids aren’t a priority. As an opportunity to bond with their oldest son Dalton (Ty Simpkins), Renail suggests that Josh drive their son to his college and get him settled in.

Dalton is wise to the fact that he hasn’t been a priority in his father’s life, and it isn’t too long before they are quarrelling.

Years ago, in an effort to deal with their past experiences with these spirits, father and son underwent hypnosis to block it all out, but certain events trigger their memories, and the hauntings begin again.

They are both being terrorized, Josh at home and Dalton at school and now they must face this once and for all.

The fifth movie in any series is challenging. How do you keep it fresh? How do you keep your audience interested? It seems those are questions Patrick Wilson wasn’t able to properly answer in his first film in the director’s chair.

Insidious: The Red Door film follows a somewhat predictable pattern of jump scares — five movies in, one can see them coming. Fans of the series will enjoy the film as it is a nice send-off for the series, but it isn’t necessarily a strong finale. They are easter eggs sprinkled in, which will please fans of the series, but overall, it’s a little flat.

Considering the brain trust behind this film, I was expecting more or perhaps just hoping for an impressive finale, but instead, the audience gets what amounts to table stakes. Instead of leaving the best for last, they did the opposite.

Grade: C

Watch the movie trailer: