“Insidious Is Starting to Feel Too Familiar!”
Six movies into the Insidious franchise, the question isn’t whether audiences want to visit the Further again. The bigger question is if there is anything left to discover. Insidious: Out of the Further tries to add to its catalog by doing something the series desperately needs: leaving the Lambert family behind. At a certain point a franchise needs new characters to center on, or be done. Unless it’s Fast and the Furious … then just chunk Ludicris into space. Director Jacob Chase introduces Gemma, played by Amelia Eve, a single mother whose childhood was defined by the violent death of her own mother. Twenty years later, Gemma is still carrying that trauma, only now she has a daughter of her own and a supernatural connection that makes her problems considerably complicated.
It is a promising setup, but by the end of the movie it’s like a bad microwave burrito. Hot in places, ice cold in others, and overall disappointing. The movie’s opening is one of its strongest stretches. Young Gemma’s experience with her mother’s death gives the story an emotional hook before the film jumps forward two decades. Honestly. I wish we had just followed young Gemma into adulthood and discovered a mystery or two while battling demons. But no.
We skip ahead 20 years. Adult Gemma has built a normal life, while shouldering her past trauma. When suddenly, her dreams become increasingly disturbing, she begins losing chunks of time and eventually discovers that whatever she encounters in her strange dreams comes “out of the Further.” Yes, they basically said the title in the movie. Not quite, but it’s pretty on the nose.
That last part potentially changes the rules of the franchise and opens doors for new narratives. Possible a ghostbusters type deal or maybe a Scooby Doo Crossover. Unfortunately, the screenplay spends more time telling us how special Gemma is than showing us why that makes her story compelling.
In the meantime, we meet a host of new characters and minions. That is one of the things Out of the Further gets right. When the movie creates a creepy person or an unsettling situation, it can still deliver. However, their introductions are a little hamfisted. Each time some of the characters arrive on screen, the entire sequence just smacks of some college era horror screenplay. Hey they’re gonna stare and smile at us in the middle of the street and no one else is gonna notice, despite the fact they do notice. It’ll look so spooky and rad. Please read that back in your best high as hell bro voice, so you get the full effect.
It doesn’t end there. When the film explains the mythology, it loses power and gravitas. Thank god we got jump scares to remind us we’re in a scary movie. The Further was once one of the better concepts in modern supernatural horror because it felt mysterious. It was a strange, hostile place that existed just beyond our understanding. Six movies into the franchise, it increasingly feels like a fictional universe with an instruction manual. If that is what we have now, I’m sorry but Beetlejuice did it better.
This is what happens when you feel the need to over explain the bad guy and their motivations. The thrill and mystery dies. Look at other major horror franchises. A Nightmare on Elm Street eventually turned Freddy Krueger into a larger-than-life horror personality. Halloween has repeatedly reinvented itself around Michael Myers, but the strongest installments understand that the character works best when he remains an almost unknowable force of evil. Insidious does not have that luxury. There is no single villain who can consistently carry the franchise. The Further is becoming increasingly difficult to make mysterious when every movie adds another layer to it.
That does not mean Out of the Further is devoid of scares. Jacob Chase, who directed Come Play, has a good eye for unsettling imagery. He understands that horror does not always require a monster standing directly in front of the camera. Some of the movie’s best moments come from empty spaces, strange silhouettes and one particularly claustrophobic scene that was done very well.
Ultimately, there are too many jump scares. Used properly, they can be incredibly effective. The problem is that this movie leans on them too frequently. It becomes very predictable and even distracting. Eventually, you stop being afraid of what might happen and start anticipating when the movie is going to make a loud noise.
Give me a dark room where I am convinced something is standing just outside the frame. Give me a hallway where the camera refuses to show me what is at the end. Make me wonder whether that shape in the background actually moved.
That kind of suspense stays with you. Horror works best when the audience cares about the people being terrorized. Out of the Further has the ingredients for that kind of investment, but the screenplay does not consistently give its characters enough room to develop. The idea of a woman trying to prevent her own childhood trauma from shaping her relationship with her daughter is much more interesting than another generic supernatural battle.
Maisie Richardson-Sellers brings some personality to the supernatural proceedings as Clare, while Lin Shaye’s Elise makes another welcome appearance. Shaye remains one of the franchise’s greatest assets, even if Elise is once again given relatively little to do. There are also plenty of callbacks for longtime fans, including familiar spirits and demons that appear throughout the movie.
The fan service is fun, but it also makes the franchise’s age increasingly obvious.
There is a difference between rewarding longtime viewers and reminding them that they are watching the sixth installment. Insidious has tried to expand instead of reinvent.
That expansion has made the universe bigger, but not necessarily better. Instead, after six movies, it is starting to feel like a place we’ve already seen.
