Scary Movie Month 2015 Day 7: Insidious Chapter 3

Insidious Chapter 3

I don't generally talk about my personal life on this blog, but suffice it to say that 2015 has been a rough year for me. There have been various trials and tribulations, and when Insidious Chapter 3 was released in August I considered skipping it. I was dealing with a lot at once and it was difficult to find the time for anything else, but as it turned out I was able to go to the preview screening the night before it opened. In all honesty my expectations were pretty low. I liked the first two a lot but the fact that it was a prequel didn't raise much hope and I was so preoccupied with everything else going on that I was just hoping for a distraction at best.

Then, a funny thing happened.

As the film unspooled (yes, I know everything is digital now, shut up) I found myself completely caught up in it. Not just the story but the entire atmosphere...it pulled me in and kept its claws in me, not unlike the malevolent spirits at the heart of the series. I jumped (and there's at least one jump-scare in here that's an all-timer as far as I'm concerned, up there with the hallway murder in Exorcist III), I gasped, and, most unexpectedly, I cried. Part of that was everything I had been feeling before it started, of course, but part of it was also Elise's (Lin Shaye, wonderful as always) story. Returning writer (and first-time director) Leigh Whannell handled her with genuine grace, and cathartically speaking it hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks. By the time the end credits rolled tears were openly streaming down my face and afterward I felt legitimately good for the first time in months, clichéd as it may sound I felt like a weight had been lifted.

So here we are now, a few months removed from that night and that feeling, watching it again in the cold light of day (as cold as the light of day can be in Florida, anyway). In truth, I was a bit nervous to watch it again, not because of the scares (but goddamn that jump at the apartment  window still totally works) but because I was afraid it wouldn't be as effective this time or mean as much to me as it did last time. It turns out I needn't have worried, it still totally worked for me. 

The Insidious movies are funhouses, old-fashioned spook shows that revel in making us jump out of our collective skin. I love that about all 3 of them and Whannell, taking over for longtime collaborator James Wan, acquits himself very well, staging the scares with confidence and glee. That being said, there's a melancholy at the heart of this particular chapter that balances the scares with real emotion that took me by surprise and made this probably my favorite entry in the series. Even more impressive is the fact that that aforementioned melancholy never gets oppressive, there's also enough humor sprinkled throughout (much of it courtesy of Whannell and Angus Sampson, returning as Elise's partners in paranormal investigation) to keep it from being too grim. After all, there's a reason that funhouses are called funhouses, and that spirit is present here just as it is in the other two movies.

I realize I haven't said anything about the plot or much at all about the characters, and that's not meant to be dismissive but it's also sort of beside the point. If you like these haunted house types of movies, there's a better than average chance you'll like this one. If they don't do it for you, then this one probably won't either (though I would still urge you to give it a try because it's all so well-staged). They do it for me, and I can guarantee this one will be entering my regular rotation. A very solid entry in one of the most entertaining horror franchises out there, and a terrific showcase for the always great Lin Shaye, what is there to be afraid of?