In 2004, director James Wan reinvigorated the horror genre with Saw. His film spawned six sequels and a host of like-minded rip-offs that dominated horror until he came along again in 2010 with another shot in the arm for the genre, Insidious. Foregoing gore for supernatural spooks and thrills, Wan once again changed the game and cemented himself as a modern master of horror.
This year has been kind to Wan, as he has released the highly successful The Conjuring and been named as the next director of the massive Fast and Furious franchise. However, before he leaves horror behind for the big Hollywood paycheck, he has one last horror tale to tell, in the shape of Insidious Chapter 2.
Picking up directly where the first film left off, Renai (Rose Byrne) finds the strangled medium, Elise, dead and horrifying photos that seem to indicate that her husband Josh (Patrick Wilson) may have had something to do with it. Police begin to investigate and during this time Josh and family move in with his mother. All seems normal until Renai starts to see and hear things indicating that whatever was haunting them is still around. Things continue to escalate but Josh refuses to admit that anything is wrong, causing Josh’s mother to reach out to Elise’s colleagues. What ensues is a horrifying investigation that delves into sexual deviancy, child abuse, and serial murder.
This investigation, which is much of the second act, is the highlight of the film. Shot differently from the rest of the film, utilizing a more kinetic framing style that gives the feel of found footage, the tension is thick and scares come consistently. It also, unfortunately, feels completely disjointed from the rest of the film, seeming like it belongs in another film altogether. And this is the crux of Insidious Chapter 2’s problems: the inconsistency in its delivery.
Wan masterfully creates tension throughout the film but aside from the second, disjointed feeling act, he fails to deliver any worthwhile scares off of that tension. This sadly means the film peaks in the middle and viewers are left with a rather flat ending. Despite these problems, Insidious Chapter 2 weaves a cohesive tale. Wan and longtime collaborator, Leigh Whannel, have created an intricate mythos that delivers an interesting continuation of the original story, even if this film doesn’t pack the same level of scares as the first.
Insidious Chapter 2 doesn’t reach the heights of its predecessor but Wan has proven once again to be one of the best storytellers working in the horror genre. Hopefully big time success won’t make him forget his horror roots because there just aren’t many directors of his level working in the genre anymore.
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