Insidious: The Red Door

Starring: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Ty Simpkins, Sinclair Daniel, Hiam Abbass, Andrew Astor, Juliana Davies, Steve Coulter,, Peter Dager, Leigh Whannell, Lin Shaye, Angus Sampson
Directed by: Patrick Wilson
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Horror, Thriller
2023

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: The Lambert family has moved on, but relationship dynamics in the family threaten to once again drive them to the Further.

Review:

Tim: I've enjoyed the Insidious franchise through the first four films. I felt like 50% of them were good and 50% decent- not bad for a horror franchise. The fifth film, Insidious: The Red Door continues this streak, albeit with only a decent film. This movie has some issues, but for a fifth film in a horror franchise to be decent- that doesn't always happen. So, it might be a lukewarm celebration, but there's some positivity to be had here.

I thought it was interesting that Patrick Wilson returns to the franchise and stepped into the director's chair. I thought he did a fairly solid job- this movie is hurt more by the script than his direction. That being said, I'm not sure you watch this film and see a bright path for him as a director. Unless he learned a lot from this experience, his effort here seems marginal at best. But, it was great having him return to the franchise in front of the camera.

That's something I really appreciated about this film. The Lamberts' story was mostly wrapped in the second film, and then we got two additional movies that focused on new characters, with Lin Shaye's Elise Rainer character bringing the gap. This worked for the franchise to some extent- it was nice seeing the movies branch out from one family and change things up a bit. While that's true, I though it was a smart movie for the fifth film to refocus back on the Lambert family. We haven't seen them in ten years and it made for an interesting story to see how they're doing. As you might expect, not very good. The efforts they went to in the second film to close the portal to the Further created some challenges in their family. It's an interesting exploration of whether you can bury secrets in your subconscious successfully, or if it's just a matter of time before they surface. This was a worthwhile exploration and it felt great to get the Lamberts back in spotlight. One other note- while Lin Shaye has been the MVP of this franchise, I actually thought it worked to greatly decrease her role this time. She shows up for a few scenes, but this movie is very much not about her. It does lend the franchise some stability, to not over rely on any one character (or family).

Patrick Wilson is solid in his acting role here. He didn't do anything great, but I thought he worked well. Ty Simpkins is really thrust into the lead role here. It was fun getting to know this grown-up character and to see how much he's changed. Simpkins did good work and worked well with Sinclair Daniel, although I have to admit, many of the fraternity scenes felt less effective to me. That does hurt the film, for Simpkins to really have the largest role, and then a number of his sequences to be the least effective in the film. You can contrast this with the art class scenes and the drawing- those were some of the most memorable, effective, creepy moments in the movie. I was pretty bummed to see how little Rose Byrne had to do. I guess it makes sense from a narrative standpoint, but she's an excellent actress and gets almost nothing to do. I was disappointed in that. I wouldn't say any of the newcomers were especially effective, outside of Daniel's energetic performance.

While I appreciated the focus on the narrative here, the movie didn't feel especially scary to me. I'm trying to remember a moment where I was legitimately nervous or creeped out. I don't think it happened. I watched the movie at night and I was able to shake everything off. The film does rely on jump scares quite a bit, but they're mostly telegraphed, so their effectiveness is blunted. One example is when Wilson's character is in the MRI machine. It's so obvious what is going to happen that by the time it does, we're prepared. Some of that is definitely on the director. The visuals are cool, I've always enjoyed how this film imagined the Further.

There's definitely good and bad with Insidious: The Red Door. On the negative side, this isn't a good movie. It's now the second "not good" film in a row for this franchise, so you do wonder if its best days are now behind it. There's a lot of lackluster aspects to this film. The story is decent, but never great. On the positive side, a fifth film in a horror franchise being decent is legitimately impressive. They mostly fall apart by this point. I enjoyed how this film shifted the focus away from Elise and back to the Lamberts. It does suggest there's the potential for future shifts- heck, the six movie focusing back on Elise would feel pretty good (I don't think anything has been announced), or they could bring in new characters and it could arguably work. Even with the slightly decreased quality here, this feels like one of the better, more consistent horror franchises out there.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Insidious, The Conjuring, Paranormal Activity, The Entity, White Noise, Poltergeist