It’s been over a decade since the first “Insidious” movie was released.
The series is a veritable modern horror icon — I still see references to its terrifying jumpscares and creepy ghost design to this day. With the fifth installment releasing this week, I knew I had to check it out.
I’ll be completely honest: “Insidious: The Red Door” was my first ever Insidious flick. I knew the general lore from years of trawling internet film reviews, but I’d never actually sat down to watch one of them the whole way through.
After my introduction to the series, I decided to go back and watch the first “Insidious” film, which came out all the way back in 2010. A lot of things have changed since then, but a lot has stayed the same.
“Insidious: The Red Door” is a continuation of the Lamberts’ story from the first two films. As Dalton heads to college, he and his father, Josh, begin to have disturbing recollections of their shared past. While The Further begins to seep into their lives, the two fight to redefine their bond and themselves.
As far as comparison goes, “The Red Door” doesn’t hold a candle to the original’s fear factor. To be fair, it could be chalked up to my environment. I saw “The Red Door” in a theater full of my friends who were joking the whole time, while I saw “Insidious” alone in my room at night.
However, “The Red Door” relies mostly on fake-out jumpscares and dream sequences to provide scares. While the same criticism could be applied to the original, the ghosts in that film were used to build mystery and tension. In the newest installment, the audience already knows what’s happening to the characters. Faking us out with dream ghosts doesn’t introduce us to anything new or move the plot along significantly.
Despite that, there were some fun horror setpieces. The MRI scene was definitely a highlight for myself and the audience around me. I also loved that Evil Dead-esque frat guy ghost, even if I wished he would have been used for more.
As always, the set design of The Further was really cool. It’s definitely been perfected over the films into a more tangible, lore-specific realm. The first film is a bit vague on what The Further actually is and its rules, whereas the newest feels like a real space.
The saddest difference between the first “Insidious” and the latest one is the visuals. Love him or hate him, James Wan, the director of “Insidious,” has a very specific visual style. There are jump cuts galore, blue-green color grading and speed-altered footage. He knows how and where to apply these effects for the best outcome.
“The Red Door,” Patrick Wilson’s directorial debut, doesn’t capture that same auteur styling. I don’t expect Wilson to copy Wan’s visuals, but it would be nice if he shot it a bit less basically. After all the visual flair of the original, a film shot like a textbook is a bit bland.
The plot of “The Red Door” doesn’t quite know what it wants to be. Is it about Josh’s familial trauma and background? Is it about Dalton’s adventures in college? Is it about Josh and Dalton’s strained connection after years of tension? Not enough time is dedicated to any of these plots to say definitively.
Despite this, I liked the throughline of generational trauma and breaking the cycle of harm. Josh tries to protect his son where his father failed to protect him. It brings a lovely emotional culmination to the franchise.
Though I ultimately didn’t enjoy the newest “Insidious” as much as the first one, it’s a good ending to the Lamberts’ story for die-hard fans of the franchise. If you’re a big fan, I don’t need to tell you to go out and see it. If you’re not, there isn’t a ton to offer in the final chapter. Maybe we should just let this franchise pass into The Further.
