Released: 2010
Director: James Wan
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne and Ty Simpkins
Had a little interest in this when it was released, and to be honest there was a lot more to it than I was expecting. It said "From the creators of Saw and Paranormal Activity", which doesn't instantly conjure reassurance of a good or original film... As the trailer and poster say, it's not the house that's haunted, it's the boy!
I enjoyed Paranormal Activity and it's sequel, but only watched the first Saw and decided it wasn't for me. I like horror, but those torture-porn films like Hostel just don't anything for me. They use gore as a means of titillating the audience, but it doesn't actually do anything worthwhile. Insidious on the other hand took what was truly creepy about Paranormal Activity and took out away from the "this is real video footage, honest" and made it a good suspense thriller.
The film review shows I saw this mentioned on marked it down because the focus is mainly on the mother of the family until the end where it "suddenly shifts to the father", but I didn't get any sense of that as a weird or bad thing. The father is around enough that you can see the family are going through it together, and he's clearly upset by the whole thing too, it just so happens he's the one who steps up to resolve the matter. It all flowed nicely I thought.
There's a séance scene at one point and they actually have some new ideas which I haven't seen used a million times in other similar horror films, which is always an impressive feat. I won't give away any details, but it was legit creepy. There was nothing in the film that made me leap from my seat, but a few times I thought, "Wow that is amazingly creepy". The kind of horror film I'd find myself writing. Imaginative.
A solid and original supernatural thriller
Also I'm aware I used the word creepy several times in succession...
7/10
I enjoyed Paranormal Activity and it's sequel, but only watched the first Saw and decided it wasn't for me. I like horror, but those torture-porn films like Hostel just don't anything for me. They use gore as a means of titillating the audience, but it doesn't actually do anything worthwhile. Insidious on the other hand took what was truly creepy about Paranormal Activity and took out away from the "this is real video footage, honest" and made it a good suspense thriller.
The film review shows I saw this mentioned on marked it down because the focus is mainly on the mother of the family until the end where it "suddenly shifts to the father", but I didn't get any sense of that as a weird or bad thing. The father is around enough that you can see the family are going through it together, and he's clearly upset by the whole thing too, it just so happens he's the one who steps up to resolve the matter. It all flowed nicely I thought.
There's a séance scene at one point and they actually have some new ideas which I haven't seen used a million times in other similar horror films, which is always an impressive feat. I won't give away any details, but it was legit creepy. There was nothing in the film that made me leap from my seat, but a few times I thought, "Wow that is amazingly creepy". The kind of horror film I'd find myself writing. Imaginative.
A solid and original supernatural thriller
Also I'm aware I used the word creepy several times in succession...
7/10
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