INSIDIOUS (2010) Review

When I first heard the name of the film, I thought "another one of those haunted house stories that we have seen hundreds of examples of", but I still began to eagerly await this film, which is shot on my favorite theme of fantasy, supernatural phenomena. Horror cinema is, first and foremost, a director's cinema. When James Wan, who proved himself with Saw, was behind the camera, my curiosity increased even more.

Finally, the time came to watch Insidious, we went and saw it. We saw that returning to the 80s was not just J.J. Abrams' enthusiasm. James Wan seems to have been quite impressed by the haunted house films of the 80s. In fact, it can even be said that he was one of those who noticed the situation before anyone else; with Death Warrant, he made an extremely violent and not bad touch on another favorite 80s theme, vigilante (revenge) films.

It is probably not necessary to talk about the subject because the underlying message of such movies is clear; unite against any evil that enters your home and protect your family! Since there is usually a mother-in-law terror in our homes, we love watching such haunted house movies and watching the "family" stay together and the evil get away at the end. James Wan, in his new movie built on this skeleton, tried to bring a new breath to "haunted house" movies and say something new in this genre that has gotten stuck in the swamp of clichés and has almost lost all its impressiveness. So did he succeed? Sorry, but no! Moreover, what ruins the movie is neither the script, nor the direction, nor the acting...

First of all, it is not original that it starts as if it is a "haunted house" movie and deals with the idea that what is haunted is not the house but the people inside, but it does not look bad. His tackling the "Astral projection" phenomenon, which hasn't been touched on much until now, and his not turning everything into a religious text, a deep Catholic call, which he is a big fan of such movies, was also quite good. Apart from Ty Simpkins, who plays the astral travel enthusiast little boy Dalton, no one else plays badly... Well, then what!

Let's answer right away; according to the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) classification criteria, it means that audiences who are 13 and over and who are not yet of age can watch it with their parents, and the famous PG13 which makes most movies much more unpleasant than they are! (Why do you think you didn't like the last Terminator?) If you are filming your movie accordingly just for the sake of selling more tickets, you are limiting yourself greatly. It's like a band giving a concert without instruments! No blood, no violence, no swearing... What are you going to do by putting these in a horror movie anyway!

At this point, James Wan re how the great horror movies of the 80s managed to do it; atmosphere... The movie starts like Amityville Horror, continues like Changeling and tries to offer a nightmare entertainment between House and Poltergeist in the finale. It is even obvious that he is imitating the Spanish horror La habitación del niño in the baby monitor sequences. But even though James Wan is a director who can do wonders with a small budget, as we saw in Saw, he couldn't pull it off this time. Feeding on so many references makes the movie a confusing watch and since he doesn't have the budget of Poltergeist, the finale is quite poor.

It is no longer possible to say something new in horror cinema... We have come to applaud those who use clichés properly or somehow turn them into reverse clichés as "great directors". The Insidious Zone was a movie we were waiting for with hope because of its director. Although it did not meet expectations, it is entertaining and watched with interest until the finale.

Those who like haunted house movies will love this movie, despite its crudeness, where all kinds of spirits are constantly booing. Still, it's best to keep your expectations low.

#Insidious

My Score 8/10

Fin