Insidious: The Red Door - Movie Review

The Movie: Insidious: The Red Door

The Director: Patrick Wilson

The Cast: Ty Simpkins, Patrick Wilson, Sinclair Daniel, Hiam Abbass, Andrew Astor, Rose Byrne

The Story: The Lamberts must go deeper into The Further than ever before to put their demons to rest once and for all.

The Review:

The Insidious horror franchise has been one of the most popular and maybe one of the more consistent genre film series since the initial installment came out way back in 2010. I feel like Patrick Wilson, who also makes his debut here as a director, Rose Byrne, and Ty Simpkins have been the core of this franchise as there was a clear drop off during their absence in the third and fourth films. I don't think the overall quality of those two films was lacking, they were good for what they were, but the family dynamic and the struggles they went through are really what I have enjoyed about this franchise.

It's also interesting to see Simpkins literally growing up before our eyes over the course of these movies and it's pretty cool to see him really come into his own as an actor in this film. The story gives him a lot to work with as the rift between father and son is really the driving force behind all the stuff that makes this a really good horror movie. Of course, Patrick Wilson is always good and I loved seeing him continue with this character in a really meaningful way that is also very familiar and I guess even comforting in a lot of ways. Combine those two with the always dependable Rose Byrne and you're pretty much guaranteed to have a lot to like while watching this story play out.

What's interesting is this is also Wilson's first attempt at directing a feature film and I guess, if you're going to start somewhere, it might as well be with a proven franchise that you are already super familiar with. I think that added comfort level went a long way to making his debut a success and it'll be interesting to see if he continues to ytake the director's chair for future installments. Oh, and yes, the story does of course leave things open for more to come because of course it does. As with anything in Hollywood, if a franchise is making money, there will be more.

I don't want to talk too much about the story as there are several key reveals that keep things interesting so I'll let you discover those for yourself as you watch. I do like some of the visual concepts at play here with some cool out of body experience type stuff and this wouldn't be an Insidious movie if we didnt travel deep into The Further. Watching all of that creepy stuff made me want to go back and revisit the earlier films to see how much of that was brought into this movie and how all of it is brought forward as well. At this point, there are so many layers to the mythology of this world, it's absolutely worth repeat viewings to see what little details you can find.