Picking up right where the first film finished, the Lambert family have moved in with Lorraine whilst the police try to establish who killed Elise Rainier. Still on edge from the events preceding this, Renai and Lorraine are both convinced they’ve seen things in the house, but Josh is adamant that everything is back to normal. What happens next is both surprising and clever as we discover more about the characters and those in ‘the further’.
I went to a special double bill of Insidious and Insidious: Chapter 2 so benefitted from viewing the films the way director James Wan intended (as one big story) and the sequel is a fine continuation. Whilst I felt that the first film was more terrifying, the sequel delved much further into the characters back stories and went in a totally different direction, so it was refreshing not to have to sit through more of the same.
The performances from Wilson, Byrne and Hershey were once again great with Lin Shaye returning to the fan favourite role of Elise and Specs and Tucker again providing some welcome comedic relief. The scares are well orchestrated and there are some nice nods to the original.
OVERALL SUMMARY
James Wan and Leigh Whannell have proved once again with this film that they are forces to be reckoned with not only in the genre but within the world of film as a whole, and as Wan bids the horror scene adieu to try something new with ‘Fast 7’ he leaves horror in a far better place than it was a decade ago. For that, horror fans everywhere are eternally grateful.
