Insidious 2 is a strange beast. More silly
than the original, funnier but less scary, it’s a difficult film to really get
your head around. When Insidious first appeared in cinemas, I found it fresh
and full of interesting ideas if a little on the silly side. For instance, the
Darth Maul demon and the use of “Tiptoe through the tulips” did get a chuckle
from me but I found it jumpy and good fun. However, I’m a little unsure about
how I feel towards the second film.
Insidious 2 picks up hours after the ending
of the first film (although a flashback does show us what happened immediately
after the twist ending of the original). With Josh facing a murder
investigation into the death of psychic Elise, the Lambert family move in with
Josh’s mother Lorraine. Determined to put the horrible events behind them, they
settle into their new life until a new gaggle of ghosts and ghouls start
haunting them.
It’s at this point that the film diverges
into two separate threads: the quest to uncover who the creepy old woman
haunting Josh is and the re emergence of ghosts haunting the family.
The decision to pick up straight from where
the first film left off is a wise decision, as is returning to the story of the
Lambert family. Too many horror sequels in recent years have opted to
completely change the location, casts and in some cases supernatural entity in
their sequels, which makes them seem extremely disconnected from the originals.
The cast of Insidious 2 are all likeable and the paranormal investigators Specs
and Tucker deliver some big laughs in their expanded roles this time round.
Another aspect that caught my eye this time
around was the exceptional production design, from the almost vaudeville
inspired red velvet lined séance room in Elsie’s house to the cold, Victorian
house in which the family are staying, everything looked stunning and oozed
atmosphere. However, for every good element there was a bad one.
The decision to explore and revel just who
the terrifying old woman ghost is dissolved a little of her power but since the
ghost is still weird enough to unnerve, the film just about manages to pull the
reveal off. The film’s tone varied wildly from one scene to the next, tense moments
undone by cheesy clichés (a particular scene in “The Further” involving an old
man elicited laughter from the audience I saw the film with, which I am sure
was not the intended reaction). There were also too many pastiches to other
horror films, the main one being The Shining (complete with the knocking down
of doors and baseball bat defense). The inclusion of a few unnecessary
hand-held camera shots felt like an odd choice for a film that felt up until
that point to be a classic ghost story reminiscent of the old Hammer House of
Horror tradition. I couldn’t help but reminded of films such as Grave
Encounters and I am not sure why this element was added.
Having said all that, I found myself trying
to excuse these floors while watching the film because as cheesy and as bizarre
as some of the choices seemed, it is still a fun film. If you liked the
original and don’t mind your horror films with a comedy element Insidious 2 is
worth a watch. It fails as a horror film (the lack of terror is strange) but when
all said and done, the mythology is still fresh and I’d take it over The
Haunting in Connecticut any day.
