Further and Further we go…
Written & Directed by: Leigh Whannell
Starring: Lin Shaye, Stefanie Scott, Dermot Mulroney, Angus Sampson, Leigh Whannell
The H-Bomb: Years before coming to the aide of the Lambert family and their comatose son, psychic Elise Rainer (Lin Shaye) had actually given up communing with the dead altogether, fearing that it had become too dangerous. Then one day, a teenage girl, Quinn Brenner (Stefanie Scott), shows up on her doorstep, seeking her help in contacting her recently deceased mother, who Quinn believes is trying to reach her from beyond the grave. Elise reluctantly gives it a try, but after a disturbing encounter with something from the other side, she sends Quinn away with a dire warning, “If you call out to one of the dead, all of them can hear you.”
Sadly, Quinn does not take Elise’s advice to heart. When she returns home, she continues her attempts to contact her mother, not realizing that someone, or something, else has answered the call. Soon, Quinn finds herself being stalked by a shadowy entity that seems to want to harm her. At a loss as to what to do, Quinn’s father, Sean (Dermot Mulroney) goes to Elise for help. Problem is, Elise has serious baggage of her own, as she herself has been targeted by a malevolent force; an evil spirit that she’ll have to confront head on, if she’s going to have any chance of saving this girl.
2011’s Insidious, directed by James Wan, was an exceptionally effective haunted house flick that struck a chilling chord in audiences, forever changing the way we listen to our Tiny Tim albums. Two years later, a sequel followed… a muddled, clumsily plotted mess of a sequel that, despite being genuinely creepy in spots, was just inferior to the original in every way imaginable. Now, with Insidious: Chapter 3, we find series writer Leigh Whannell making his directorial debut. Having collaborated with Wan not only on the first two Insidious films, but also the first three Saw films, as well as Dead Silence, Whannell has proven himself to be a clever and capable writer… but as Teaching Mrs. Tingle taught us back in 1999, not all writers are meant to direct.
So, how does Whannell do in the director’s chair? Not so bad, actually. His direction lacks the creepy panache of Wan’s, but for a first timer, he fairs well. The first act is a bit too slow and sluggish, with banter between Quinn, her father, and her brother that is banal at best and obnoxious at worst, but once the apparitions finally start to appear, Whannell creates a slow burning sense of dread, often by simply having dark figures linger subtly in the background. Quiet, gradual terror is far more effective than loud, sudden jump scares. The scenes where shadowy characters lurk around our young heroine do a lot more to generate a sense of fear than the Boo! jolts that the director peppers in later. Whannell does keep the Boo! jolts to a minimum, which is wise on his part.
I also like that the main location has changed from a house to an apartment building. That other James Wan prequel, last year’s Annabelle, also did this, though Insidious: Chapter 3 makes much better use of it. The place is slightly rundown, the corridors are dark and foreboding, and the elevator… the elevator just looks like a great place to stay the fuck out of. It is one hell of a spooky location that just oozes atmosphere, and the imagery of those inhuman footprints leaving a trail along the floorboards… holy shit, that should’ve been the poster.
If the film had stuck with that kind of suggestive imagery for this demon, or entity, or whatever, it would’ve been all the more creepier. Kind of like in the original Alien, where we only see glimpses of the creature. The less we see the creature, the scarier it is. Sadly, Whannell doesn’t seem to subscribe to that notion, and soon abandons the idea of only giving glimpses of his monster, in favor of showing it in all it’s lackluster glory. We then repeatedly see this thing numerous times throughout, and it stopped being scary. Every time this Dr. Satan looking motherfucker came on screen, I didn’t feel any sense of fear, I just thought, “Oh, there’s that Dr. Satan looking motherfucker again.”
Another issue I have is that instead of following up on the killer cliffhanger of Chapter 2, Whannell decided to make this a prequel. I was genuinely curious about what Elise saw at the end of the second one that got her so spooked, but instead of getting an answer to that, we go back in time and get the story about how she hooked up with the idiot ghost hunters, Specs (Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Sampson). I can’t speak for everyone, but for me, that’s an origin story I wasn’t particularly interested in hearing. Not to mention, Specs and Tucker feel a little out of place, this time. They don’t show up until very late in the film, and when they do, they more or less turn this straight faced horror flick into a mismatched buddy comedy. But the fans seem to love them, so who am I to argue?
An aspect of this prequel that does work, is that it eventually becomes Elise’s story; it becomes Lin Shaye’s movie. In the first two films, she was merely a prominent supporting player. Insidious: Chapter 3 is about her. She’s given far more depth as a character, we learn more about her personal life, and we become invested in finding out who it is who’s tormenting her in the Further. This is the first time, to my knowledge, that Shaye has had a leading role, and she brings her A-game. Her stellar turn here is the film’s strongest asset.
As far as not-entirely-necessary prequels go, I’d file Insidious: Chapter 3 under Decent Time Waster. Nothing amazing, nothing terrible. It’s a slight step up from Chapter 2, in that it has a more fluid script, and it is vastly superior to that shamefully shameless cash grab, Annabelle. It’s not as shit-your-pants scary as the original Insidious or The Conjuring, though there were moments, such as when the demon feet appear under the bed, that definitely gave me the heebie jeebies… and I suppose I should make mention of a certain cameo at the very, very end of the film that will surely leave fans of the series screaming and applauding.
Now, all that aside, I must lastly confess, I really am sick to fucking death of this kind of haunted house movie. Seriously. Tired of it! Done. Like the endless parade of zombie movies from a few years back, they have worn out their welcome, the market has become over-saturated with them, and I yearn desperately for something new. Then again, who the hell am I kidding? Should there be an Insidious: Chapter 4, which the ending here kind of promises there will be, I will, in all likelihood, see it.
