Insidious

Name: Insidious

Genre: Horror/Thriller

Cast: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, James Wan (Director)

Synopsis: A shadow of an old woman seen inside the house. Renai and Josh have moved into a new house with their three children. Renai with her son Dalton was looking at a family photo when Dalton asks that there is no picture of Josh during his childhood. Renai told him that Josh is camera shy and doesn’t want his photos to be taken. One evening, Dalton sees an attic and goes down to investigate it. When he was trying turn on the light of the attic, he falls from the ladder towards the floor. During that he sees something horrifying. Renai and Josh take Dalton back to the bed and told him not to play again in attic. Dalton doesn’t wake up the next and was taken immediately to the hospital where doctors told them that Dalton is in Coma. After 3 months, Dalton is taken back to home as he is still in coma. Soon some disturbing events started to happen. Renai hears a voice on baby monitor shouting “I want it now” and also a blood hand print on Dalton’s bed and a stranger man in her daughter’s bedroom. Another incident when her youngest son tells her that he doesn’t like when Dalton walks around in night. Renai gets very depressed told these events to her husband Josh and told him to please move to another house and they moved. But the Strange events continued to happen in the new house. Lorraine, Josh’s mother tells that she also had a strange dream where she was in Dalton’s room and some strange person who was standing next to him. She asked what does he wants and in reply to that he wants Dalton. She saw red faced figure standing next to Josh to which she got scared. Lorraine immediately called her friend Elise Reiner who specializes in paranormal activity investigation. She and his team on initial investigation and draw a figure of black body, red face and hollow eyes sitting on the Dalton room’s ceiling.

Elise explains then that Dalton has the ability of astral projection while sleeping and he has been doing this quite often. His physical body is here but his spiritual body is not here and has been travelling to another spiritual world called The Further” a place of tormented dead souls and this is the reason why he is in coma. These tormented dead souls carving their way in this world through Dalton’s body and the most dangerous intent is having their way in by that demon black body, red faced figure and the old dangerous woman. But for spirit to consume a body it takes time and a lot of energy. Josh at first instance didn’t believe in all that but seeing pictures in Dalton’s house same as Elise description he accepts this fact. They run a session where they tried to talk to Dalton but later on, dead souls who want to take over Dalton’s body fights Josh, Renai, Elise and her assistants using Dalton’s body. Elise called Lorraine and she explained that Dalton has this ability because Josh too possessed that ability during his childhood as he was too terrorized by an evil old woman spirit and only he is the person who can bring Dalton back. Josh agrees to that.

To prepare for astral projection and to find Dalton, Elise made Josh sit on the chair and places him a trance. He suddenly wakes up and finds that he is in a different world as he astral projected as his physical body remains on chair but his spiritual body is moving. As he proceeds further to find Dalton he sees a boy pointing him towards a house He encounters a family who is shot by a dangerous woman member of the family in the living room. Josh make his way further and he sees a red door as he sees in the Dalton’s picture. But before opening the door he is encountered by an aggressive man as seen by Renai before. He defeated that man and enters that red door. When he enters that door he sees a balcony with red light and full of burning candles and a little bit further he sees Dalton being chained. He freed Dalton but the Black body red faced demon attacked them but both of them ran away from there in search of their real bodies while demon was still in pursuit of them. Just as they move further he told Dalton to move as he sees old woman and confronts her. He screams at her that he is know not afraid of him anymore and later that shadow of the old women goes into the darkness and Josh and Dalton suddenly wakes up in the real world and the evil spirits disappear. Whole family reunited and was happy. Josh hands Elise the pictures of his childhood and asks her to destroy them as they isn’t scared of it anymore but at the time of taking pictures he takes those pictures and put them in his bag. She takes a picture of Josh to confirm something but Josh goes to rage and aggressive and strangling her to death. Renai hears yelling sound from the room and goes to check the room. She sees that Elise is dead and Josh is gone. She shouts for Josh but wasn’t able to find him. She suddenly sees the camera dropped nearby her and got scared and shocked. In a little flashback it was revealed that Elise see that the same old woman who had been present in the Josh’s childhood snaps that terrorize her now had taken over Josh’s body as she possessed him. Josh then puts his hand on the Renai arm saying “Renai. I am here” and she got scared and horrified as she looks back towards him.   

Review: One of the very good movies made by James Wan. What’s very good about the movie or I should say one of the features of James Wan is that he will make you feel thrilled and horrified without splitting blood and without some horrified faces. How the creaking or banging doors, groaning floor voices and the horrifying and terrified scenes make you thrilled with full of surprises. Most actors performed their roles in the movie very well. It was a little disappointment in the end as the standards or high levels which it sets in the first half, couldn’t maintain the same in the second half. Story of the movie which looks very astonishing in the first half, goes way down in the second one. Also the ending could have been a little better but the movie is very good as a whole with full of scary scenes and whole lot of horrifying and terrifying moments.

Stars given: 3.5 out of 5.