Insidious Chapter 2 (2013)

Review

"In my line of work things tend to happen when it gets dark." - Elise Rainier

Renai Lambert is being interrogated by a Police Detective who is trying to determine who killed Elise Rainier, suspicions are her husband Josh is the culprit. The Lamberts have moved temporarily into Josh's moms, Lorraine, house due to the police investigation and unfortunately it would appear that something has followed them. There are some seriously disturbing phenomena going down including doors opening and shutting themselves, a piano playing without a musician, and a baby walker taking to turning on and moving with no one in the room. Even worse Renai's son Dalton is once again seeing things that aren't there.

Josh doesn't believe Renai is experiencing ghostly apparitions, say what! - but Lorraine can back up Renai's stories as she is seeing ghosts. Lorraine doesn't muck around and calls ghost busting duo Specs and Tucker, who confirm the problem and seek the help of Carl, a psychic. They are soon in contact with Elise's spirit, who guides them on a path of discoveries buried in Josh's past. There's something disturbingly psychotic about and it's centered on Josh.

I was immediately happy to be sitting down to a viewing of this movie as James Wan has been rocking it recently. Outstandingly the same cast returned from the first movie and proved to be still on track with the character requirements. In particular Rose Byrne (Renai Lambert) and Lin Shaye (Elise Rainier) kicked majors with their respective performances that kept things rocking on like a wild night up the Cross. Stealing the show however were the comic duo Leigh Whannell (Specs) and Angus Sampson (Tucker) who tapered down their bumbling ghost hunter duo antics to nail the requirements and at times had me chuckling. So for sure we were in good hands when it came to cast and crew.

In the first movie the much suffering Lamberts were in Poltergeist mode with Dad having to go into the "Further" to rescue his young fella from the demons and spirits. This go around the Lamberts are sort of dealing with a paranormal Norman Bates, and going back to the "Further". Scribe Leigh Whannell does a bang up job putting on a fairly decent psycho element, we even get Mom and her problems, while melding it to the whole Insidious universe of ghostly happenings. The only issue I had was with the over use of time travel, which worked in some places, but which otherwise seemed a bit redundant and forced. The flashback to young Josh was well received however and helped explain a lot of the scenes in the first movie that seemed slightly off beat with the narrative flow.

However we are still talking the atmosphere, tension, and general ambiance of the first movie duplicated. Even the titles at the start of the movie work off the same special effect the original movie boasted about. We may be missing Darth Maul from the first movie, let's face facts kids the demon wasn't exactly the best demon we have ever summoned in our lives, but the Black Bride and numerous other denizens from the Further are still ready to play shenanigans with the living dimension. I was actually happy with the sequel in this regard; I got my Insidious fix with an entirely new storyline that tied in well with what we experienced with Josh in the first movie. Not often that you can be happy with a sequel that furthers the mythology of the original.

Surprisingly Chapter Two reminded me of The Conjuring, even though both movies approach their subject matter differently and there's not much similarity in that subject matter. Director James Wan, proving to be one of the finest horror dudes out of Australia, simply nails his supernatural stuff, there's a couple of jump scenes sure but by and large we're talking suggestive horror. People move in the background between rooms but can't be found when the witness investigates, there are discordant noises from inanimate objects, Wan is nailing the spooky atmosphere while not overly playing up every single trope you have ever seen in a haunted house flick. Dare I say it, Chapter Two out poltergeists Poltergeist in this regard. The Conjuring for its part has one effective motif, the hand clapping, but relies on the same tired old tropes we have seen a thousand times before, including the "based on a true story" malarkey. I enjoyed bother movies, can dig the similarities but view Chapter Two as the superior beast among the horror movie herd, even though both movies share the same Director.

James Wan certainly has his spook on with this movie, like most horror flicks he has tackled over the last few years, excluding Saw for obvious reasons. While the whole aesthetic might be dialled heavily into Boredwood haunted house centric, the actual shocks are pretty simply constructed following a typical Aussie approach to the subject, in short less is more. Wan doesn't bother overly with the current shenanigans Yank Directors use to hammer their audiences into submission, rather he is trying to run a cold finger down your spine. Every aspect of the movie is designed to put you on edge rather than minutes spent building to the next jump scare. While for sure Chapter Two is spooky it's probably not going to be giving you nightmares, assuming you aren't a 10yo chick of course.

Guess final word should go to the use of practical effects rather than relying on the overuse of CGI, which has ruined more than one horror flick. As stated above Director Wan is after his scares being on the easily constructed side with the atmosphere adding to a tsunami of dread headed your way. While the movie may not be on the nightmare inducing side it certain made me edgy wondering what was coming at me next. Wan dials it low key with the effects and simply uses set design and tension to do the work for him without having to overly explain the at times convoluted plot design.

It's taking me a while to get around to reviewing Insidious: Chapter Two, the third movie is already in our review queue, but the wait was worth it. I had a good time with the sequel and think it pretty much was a worthy addition to what promises to be a very solid franchise. Okay Chapter Two may not have the same surprise factor or balls to the wall mayhem of the first movie, but it takes that movie's mythology and adds to it successfully. If after a decent scary movie that isn't out to shock you into submission with sudden jumps or gore then you are in the right place. Full recommendation, a very solid haunted house tale.