Insidious: Out of the Further – Movie Review
Between Saw, The Conjuring and Insidious, James Wan has very much set himself as a staple of 21st century horror, with his fingers in each of the aforementioned franchise pies, resulting in monumental box office success and varying critical acclaim. But as these franchises now sit well past a decade in their cinematic journeys, it’s about that time where fresh directors are injected to breathe new life, characters, and stories. Insidious: Out of the Further, the sixth film in the Insidious series, aims to do just this by introducing filmmaker Jacob Chase (Come Play) and a new protagonist, Gemma (Amelia Eve), into the Further.
Gemma is a young mother raising her daughter in her own childhood home – a place that holds a dark, demonic past. As unsettling and creepy events begin to occur around her house, Gemma not only discovers she has the ability to travel into the Further – a realm where lost souls and demonic figures live – but she also has the ability to bring entities into the real world. Now unable to control the demons that have been unleashed, Gemma must utilise the help of medium Elise (with Lin Shaye reprising the role) to take on the malevolent forces.
Insidious: Out of the Further is arguably the best entry of the series since the original two films, which primarily focused on the Lambert family and set up the terrifying and iconic world that is the Further. In saying that, there are still a handful of flaws and formulaic tropes that Chase’s take on the series that arise. But where the film does stand out is in the execution of some incredibly tense build ups to effective and unique jump scares.
Even with a new set of characters to focus on, Out of the Further feels more like a soft reboot of the original film’s story, taking a lot of cues from the family dynamics, traumatic pasts, and atmospheric tone. The film feels like it’s constantly battling with trying to be a unique entry into the series, but also capture the elements that made Insidious so memorable. There is definitely an emotional core to Gemma’s story that drives the film along, which is brought to life by a heartfelt and sincere performance from Eve. That emotional journey also pays off reasonably well in the film’s third act, but it does feel a little too familiar to the “facing your demons and traumas” that the predecessors have tackled before.
But it’s in the horror itself where Chase’s direction, and the film itself, thrives through creative and haunting set-pieces that don’t just scare, but also showcase some really great production design and demonic makeup. If the dentist wasn’t scary enough, Chase features a white-knuckle inducing sequence in the dentist’s chair that leads to a solid jump scare. And if you’re looking for some more Backrooms-type, liminal maze horror, the highlight set-piece of the film will make you never want to crawl through a pillow fort ever again, a great example of the aforementioned production design.
That blue-tinged look of the Further and the Victorian-era set design, an iconic look to the series, is featured in this film, but with the action leaving the Further for most of the runtime, it allows the look of the Further to enter the real world, and this cosmic-like mixture of the two worlds creates some great visuals. The design of the characters is also fantastic, with classic demons like the Lip Stick Face demon, Key Face, or the Woman in White, and new entities that are just as creepy and effective thanks to some great costuming and makeup.
While Insidious: Out of the Further may fall into some formulaic tropes narratively, it makes up for it with solid scares and a creepy atmosphere, something that this long-running franchise needed a solid hit of.
Insidious: Out of the Further is in Australian cinemas August 20
