I’m a huge fan of Insidious; I walked out of the first film feeling terrified and exhilaratingly thrilled. The Lipstick-faced Demon scared the hell out of me and I was sure he was hiding in my loo every night for about a month. Then came chapter two picking up directly where the first film left off. I was so disappointed leaving the cinema, it had become a bit of a disjointed, what with all the time travel and revisiting scenes from the first film and explaining them in minute detail. I have to say I’ve watched Chapter 2 on DVD since and enjoyed it a lot more, perhaps without the weight of expectations from my love of the original I was able to enjoy the fun bits and skip the ending. This is kind of how I feel about Chapter 3. It sits between the two in terms of quality and I have a feeling I’ll be watching it again when it comes out on DVD/Netflix
After trying to connect with her dead mother unsuccessfully, aspiring actor Quinn Brenner (Stephanie Scott) , asks physic Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) to help her. Elise is in a dark place after the death of her husband and has stopped using her gift. She believes that something is waiting for her in the depth of The Further that will kill her if she travels there again. She invites Quinn in for a chat and warns her about contacting the dead. Quinn ignores Elise’s advices and tries again to make contact. She starts noticing paranormal events happen in her house and a strange figure seems to be following her. He waves at her mysteriously and she can hear breathing noises in her room at night. After being in a horrific accident, Quinn is wheelchair bound with both her legs in plaster. She receives a cryptic warning from a neighbour with dementia who tells her ‘A man who can’t breathe’ is hiding in her room. Quinn comes clean with her grief-stricken father (Dermot Mulroney) about seeing the figure but he is reluctant to believe her until a vicious attack from the evil entity convinces Elise to use her abilities one last time to stop the demon from destroying Quinn’s soul.
Chapter 3 goes back to basics and has a simpler story than Chapter 2 relying more on atmosphere to set up the tension and there’s a lot to like about it. Leigh Whannell, the writer of all three films takes over from James Wan as director and does a great job creating tension and scares. The emotional relationship with Quinn and her father is nicely handled too. One of the main reasons Chapter 3 works better than its predecessor is the return of Elise played by the wonderful Lin Shaye. Her part was reduced to a cameo in Chapter 2 so it’s great to have her nearer centre stage. Stephanie Scott is good too. She looks a bit like she might have been a Disney Princess in a former life. She’s likeable and strong even when she is reduced to the obligatory shot of her in her knickers to appease teenage boys. The central demon too is pleasingly creepy, dressed in a dishevelled hospital gown and breathing through a tar-filled oxygen mask. Specs and Tucker are back too and I enjoyed them more this time around. There’s less of their horse-play which always felt a little forced to me.
The downside are that at times it feels rather dull, the scares are effective but after the initial creepy moments it becomes a case of silence and creaking footsteps followed by a ear-piercing pounding of the ear drums. The soundtrack too feels less effective this time around as if they decided to tone it down. Also there’s no pre-title-card scene which I really missed. I also wanted more set in The Further. Wan received a lot of criticism for his mannequin figures, pale faced and grinning living out never ending vignettes but I got a kick out of it. Chapter 3 starts off with the title card that states this takes place a few years before the Lambert haunting of the first two parts but this doesn’t really matter. Now Elise is back in the game and alive they could have a new case every week/month fitting in dozens of ‘prequel’ cases to investigate. In the world of Insidious a coherent timeline seems unnecessary. What we want is creepiness, quality scares and undoubtedly Lin Shaye.
Insidious Chapter 3 is a decent entry in the series, nothing remarkable; but it’ll make you jump a few times and makes the smart move of giving Lin Shaye a hefty chunk of screen time.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Insidious Chapter 3 is a decent entry in the series, nothing remarkable; but it’ll make you jump a few times and makes the smart move of giving Lin Shaye a hefty chunk of screen time.
