Insidious Review:

Daniel Foster
Chronicle
March 24, 2011

Insidious

     Horror movies have become little more than two hours of gore or laughter of how bad the film was executed. Films such as Saw which began with promise soon become the yearly film that audiences dreaded. Horror is by far the most complicated and difficult film to make, due to the amount of potential failures in the execution. Insidious is a near perfect horror movie, that uses its low budget to great effects along with going outside of the standard clichés.
     Two years ago Paranormal Activity saw box office success, along with being considered the scariest movie of modern day horror. Insidious also uses it low budget to great use, and encourages the audience to not only think outside of the box, but also pay close attention to the screen for the hidden scares. The films story focuses on a family who endure constant encounters with the supernatural. As it turns out, demons and ghost are drawn to one of the sons with the hopes of possessing him. The plot may give off the been their done that feel, but as the film goes on you are introduced to different characters who bring more variety to the story, along with a twist ending that most won’t see coming. The plot is solid, but it is the films execution that stole the show.
      The visual style for the films gives a gritty and dark look, adding to the emotion conveyed in the plot. The scares don’t come until the middle of the movie, but throughout the film you have a sense of suspense and dread, as each encounter grows more and more violent. The makeup is fantastic, making the many entities memorable and respectably haunting. However the film isn’t perfect, I found myself almost laughing at the final act and how less scary and poorly executed it was, even though the beginning was excellent. The final act almost played out like an old slasher film with people screaming and running from the killer.
     In the end Insidious is a haunting, creepy, and downright scary film which is exactly what this genre needed. In a year full of superhero’s and sequels it is nice to see that low budget films can be just as enduring as those with mega million budgets. Insidious will haunt you and don’t be surprised if you’re afraid to go to sleep.