Insidious
(originally published on May 1, 2011)
Insidious is a return to a very old-fashioned form of
entertainment: the haunted house movie. It is the proper kind of haunted house
movie that uses creaking floorboards, startling bangs, and general eeriness for
its scares, rather than an abundance of blood, guts, and gore; which, quite
frankly, are not scary. The movie is actually so old-school in its way of
functioning that it is hard to believe that it came from director James Wan,
creator of Saw, a franchise that has practically ruined the genre for
the past decade. Insidious was apparently made with a very small budget
and it occasionally shows; in the somewhat sloppy climax, for example. That
does, however, make a good impression as far as how devoted the film-makers
were to the project. A lot of care went into this little scary movie, even
during the brief period during which it was shot, and it's always a joy to see
a movie made by people who loved making it. The love for the material really
shows through in the end.
The story is, unfortunately, rather uninspired. A family moves into a big, creaky house. The son falls off a ladder and becomes comatose. The mother hears weird noises on the baby monitor and keeps seeing wicked faces in the dark. The father thinks it's all a bunch of hooey and puts his foot down when the medium shows up. As the film progresses and the terror builds, things get a bit more ridiculous. Laughing children and grinning young ladies pop up in an alarming fashion. The gas-mask seance is more than a little bizarre and doesn't have much explanation. When "Tiptoe through the Tulips" starts playing during a demonic attack, that's when it seems like somebody must be joking.
The story is, unfortunately, rather uninspired. A family moves into a big, creaky house. The son falls off a ladder and becomes comatose. The mother hears weird noises on the baby monitor and keeps seeing wicked faces in the dark. The father thinks it's all a bunch of hooey and puts his foot down when the medium shows up. As the film progresses and the terror builds, things get a bit more ridiculous. Laughing children and grinning young ladies pop up in an alarming fashion. The gas-mask seance is more than a little bizarre and doesn't have much explanation. When "Tiptoe through the Tulips" starts playing during a demonic attack, that's when it seems like somebody must be joking.
But it's all done so seriously that it really is more
frightening than it probably should be. In fact, the entire movie is extremely
terrifying because of the relentless and overwhelming manner in which the
scares are thrown at the viewer. Claustrophobic isn't even the right word; it's
more like torture for the nerves. Those who frequent this type of film and know
when everything is going to happen, like me, will still almost certainly jump
at probably numerous points during Insidious. It may not have the
greatest story ever filmed, but it still has plenty of unpredictability.
Insidious is a fantastic horror movie, sort of like those haunted house attractions at amusement parks. It is effective in the moment, even if it seems more ridiculous in retrospect. A movie like this has to get mood and timing just right or everything becomes swiftly comic. Insidious is more than able to handle itself in those departments, but it's too bad it is lacking in originality and a certain level of subtlety that would have made the effect more lasting. Those who think being scared is a good old time at the movies will find this one a real hoot. For people with a nervous nature or heart conditions or are shorter than five feet, you may want to skip this particular thrill ride.
7/10
Insidious is a fantastic horror movie, sort of like those haunted house attractions at amusement parks. It is effective in the moment, even if it seems more ridiculous in retrospect. A movie like this has to get mood and timing just right or everything becomes swiftly comic. Insidious is more than able to handle itself in those departments, but it's too bad it is lacking in originality and a certain level of subtlety that would have made the effect more lasting. Those who think being scared is a good old time at the movies will find this one a real hoot. For people with a nervous nature or heart conditions or are shorter than five feet, you may want to skip this particular thrill ride.
7/10
Clyde and Stephanie Brenek
(Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgwick) are divorced when we first meet them,
passing their two daughters back and forth every weekend. The girls Em and
Hannah (Natasha Calis and Madison Davenport) spend the weekends with their
father. Em seems to think her parents will get back together. Hannah is not so
sure. While shopping at a yard sale, Em purchases a strange carved box that
won't opnen until the middle of the night. It is then that Em begins to hear
voices. She becomes unnaturally attached to the box. Impossibly large amounts
of moths overtake her room. She stabs her father with a fork at breakfast. It
soon becomes clear that an evil spirit resides in the box and is attempting to
use Em as a host. Clyde enlists the help of a
young traditional Jewish man to seal the box permanently and hide it for good.
This is not the first exorcism movie Hollywood has churned out and it won't be the last. The best of all of them was, of course, William Freidkin's great masterpiece The Exorcist in 1973. That movie was so influential on the horror genre in general that every possession movie since then is automatically copying it. One of the most similar thematically, though, is The Possession. This new feature was directed by Ole Bernadel who has said that he approached the story from the viewpoint of the divorce, with the supernatural elements acting as an analogy of its effects. In other words, he made a dramatic movie, not a horror movie.
This is both a blessing and a curse. First, by placing
character above terror, he has made a movie that is more emotionally effective
than most films of the genre can ever be. On the flipside, pretty much everyone
going into the movie will be at least a little disappointed. Even I was not
expecting to witness a movie that simply cannot be described as scary. I would
say that it is definitely a chilling experience, but not scary.
How much you will be unnerved depends on how uncomfortable
you are with the subject of demons and the fact that the events of the film are
being backed up as truth. Its most effective aspect is its realism. If this
family did encounter a demon, this is most likely the way things would unfold.
That has the potential of being more disturbing than a collection of jump
scenes.
As I said, I don't think The Possession is very frightening. There are a handful of moments that should make any sane viewer a little uneasy, but if you're looking exclusively for scares, you should try elsewhere. I enjoyed the movie more than most people will because I appreciated its calm, logical progression and its emphasis on story above theatrics. At the same time, some of the drama doesn't work as well as it should and I wonder if upping the ante on some of the horror, especially in the climactic scenes, wouldn't have helped improve both sides of the coin. On the whole, I can safely recommend The Possession as a decent dramatic thriller, but not as a late-night screamfest.
7/10
As I said, I don't think The Possession is very frightening. There are a handful of moments that should make any sane viewer a little uneasy, but if you're looking exclusively for scares, you should try elsewhere. I enjoyed the movie more than most people will because I appreciated its calm, logical progression and its emphasis on story above theatrics. At the same time, some of the drama doesn't work as well as it should and I wonder if upping the ante on some of the horror, especially in the climactic scenes, wouldn't have helped improve both sides of the coin. On the whole, I can safely recommend The Possession as a decent dramatic thriller, but not as a late-night screamfest.
7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment