Now Playing: Insidious

It's been on my "to watch" list for weeks, and I finally roped someone into seeing Insidious with me. This was originally recommended to me by my friend and twitter user @inhuman_4 after he saw it at the Toronto International Film Festival. Ever since then I've been waiting for my chance, and finally it came out in theaters. From the creators of Paranormal Activity and Saw, Insidious is an attempt to make a horror movie the way they used to be made, without interference from executives and studios. I was anxious to see if they succeeded. Hit the jump to see if they did!


Insidious is about a family of 5 moving into a new house. Creepy things start happening right off the bat like things moving by themselves, strange sounds being heard at night and things being seen just out of the corner of your eye. Their son Dalton soon falls into some kind of unexplainable coma and events begin to increase in intensity.

After hearing this basic story summary, Insidious seems like a very average run-of-the-mill horror that we've all seen time and time again. In actuality, I've had to leave most of the finer details out that make Insidious a great story simply because that would utterly ruin the uniqueness. There were so many times during the movie that I thought "Ah, I know what's going on" and then it turns out I'm wrong as the formula suddenly switches up. Then when I think "Oh ok, NOW I get it" it changes once again, always keeping you guessing.

Patrick Wilson & Rose Byrne give their characters a believability rarely found in Horror

Another point to make about Insidious is how grounded it feels, even though it's dealing with totally crazy ideas. My friend was the first to bring this up, and he's totally right. The characters all seem to act with *gasp* common sense! What's that? There's a weird noise outside in the dark? Should I venture out into the night in my PJ's? Hell no! I'll try to turn on the porch light or look out the windows and lock the door and go back to bed! Finally! Smart people in a horror movie! It's a small thing, but it makes all the difference and makes the people on screen seem more real, and as a result makes the scary events feel more real too.

Oh F--K so creepy!!

There are a lot of little things I liked about Insidious besides the characters and the story. The effects, the scares, the atmosphere at the end and the concepts used really got my mind going. Surprisingly, Insidious is quite devoid of blood, which meant the scares were almost always psychological and not just gross-out shock scenes.

This is a benefit for me, since I'm not a fan of the body horror movies of late, Saw being a major player in that camp of horror movies. The Saw creator's influences can still be felt though with creepy sound effects and such, but the movie seems to be more like Paranormal Activity than Saw if I was forced to pick sides. Even so, Insidious stands on it's own and feels like a unique movie all it's own.

This starts as a sort of goofy scene, but quickly becomes very powerful

I definitely have to recommend Insidious to anyone who is a fan of horror movies. It brings back feelings and atmosphere reminiscent of horror films of the past. The horrible screeching sound that accompanies the title shot alone gave me chills. The pacing and flow of the movie keep it moving and keep you guessing right until the end. One piece of advice though, remember this is still an indie movie on a budget, so even though I'm giving it a fairly glowing review, do go into it with some lowered expectations. With that in mind, go forth, and get the crap scared out of you!