The first Insidious scared the living crap out of me. It wasn't perfect, but if supernatural horror is your thing and you love getting scared, you won't find a more frightening movie.
So it was with great anticipation that I made some popcorn, dimmed the lights, put on the headphones (can't watch a movie like this with sound on when the kids are sleeping) and prepared to get terrified all over again.
The only problem is that it wasn't really that scary. Not like the first one, at least. The scares were mostly the type where there is a loud noise to accompany a scary image to make you jump. They just weren't always relative to the story this time.
The Good: This is a fun movie. I could understand people complaining about some of the comedy, but I never felt like it was too forced or killed the mood. When they needed to be serious they turned off the humor and got serious. I also like the way they tie some of the final scenes into the first movie. In some ways it like a Saw movie.
The Bad: We'll have some spoilers here, so there is your warning. I had two big problems with the end of the movie. First, with the cliff-hanger. I know it's there to set up the next movie and give you a quick scare at the end, but come one. Why introduce this whole new story in the last two minutes of the movie. You know what, thought, I think it would have worked to do that as a bonus scene after the closing credits. That would have actually been pretty cool.
Anyhow, a bigger problem I had with this movie was the "big reveal" at the end. When it was shown that (again, here is the spoiler!) Parker was a killer because his mom made him dress and act and grow up "as a girl" I just shook my head. This was the exact same "big reveal" from The House at the End of the Street. James Wan and Leigh Whannell really could have done better than using the same plot from a movie that came out just one year earlier.
Closing: Watch it. It's not the masterpiece that the first one was, but it's not terrible by any means. If you're a fan of supernatural horror or enjoy the Saw style of storytelling, this is the 2013 movie for you. But make sure you watch the first one first, or a lot of what you see here won't make any sense.
I really enjoyed the "big reveal" The first movie centered around it too, whether anyone noticed it or not. I was watching the credits in the theater and realized The Woman In Black was played by a man. From that point on, I was waiting for it.
ReplyDeleteI didn't have any issue with the big reveal being similar to another movie, because a lot of movies have similar endings, similar "surprises" as one another. I think if the story is still strong, it doesn't really matter.
I really liked how the two movies tie into one another. I know a lot of horror people who HATE these movies, but they're some of my favorites.
To each their own.
My favorite thing about the second is its title. It sets up right away that this is PART of the story, not a sequel. The story is not complete. That's also why I have no issues at all with how the last scene fits in. It feels more like a novel to me. Introduce the next problem, cliff hanger, flip to Chapter Three.