Review - Insidious

Insidious is the latest film from the same stable that started the SAW franchise (James Wan and Leigh Whannell) and wow...bring a change of underwear when you watch this one.

Insidious starts off like most haunted house films, strange bumps in the night, whispering voices and the occasional glimpses of spectres or is there? The story is that Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson) and Renai Lambert (Rose Byrne) have moved into a new house, some strange things start happening then their son falls into a coma and then Renai starts seeing things...

The film is well written it is by turns clichéd but then five minutes later it subverts that cliché into something different, which is due to not only Whannell's writing but his obvious knowledge of the horror genre.

Wilson and Byrne are ok in this, with Byrne having to do more of the emotional stuff and Wilson playing his part well enough.  The supporting cast in this film helps immensely with Barbara Hershey, Lin Shaye, Angus Sampson (yes that Angus Sampson) and writer Leigh Whannell all doing their best with the latter two providing some much needed humour when the film is at its bleakest. Some may get annoyed that it breaks the mood somewhat but I think it was well timed.  

James Wan has put together a very effective boo-fest and the first three quarters of the film is pitch perfect, however the last act seems a touch long and gets away from the reasons of why it was so damn scary for the first two acts. There are some amazingly scary moments with the scariest moments being those that are filled with silence. That’s not to say that the score to film was ordinary, quite the contrary. Sounding like an old school black and white horror score, with plenty shrieking strings and the like, it is a pants wettingly (yes it's a word....that I just made up) scary piece of music which duly sets the tone for the film.

So if your nerves can take it, go and watch one the best horror films in recent memory.