Some films would be bloody brilliant if they only released half the movie. The second half of Transformers 3 is fantastic...it's just a shame that the first 90 minutes make you want to blow your brains out. And the middle section of Bruckheimer's King Arthur flick is stunning...it's just a pity that it's bookended by seen-it-all-before battles. Insidious falls into the same trap.
Just like Poltergeist, whose story Insidious mimics, it's divided into two halves. The first, as new family Rose Bryne, Patrick Wilson & kids move into their new house, plays out like a classic haunted house story; creepy noises, strange figures in the dark, jump scares and the like. And when it's revealed it's NOT the house that is haunted it just adds tons of tension to an already creepy, scary movie.
Where it falls down is the second half where, again like Poltergeist, some scientists and an eccentric spiritualist medium turn out to 'cleanse the house'. Out goes the old school scares and tension. Incomes some off-beat character humour worthy of a dumb teen comedy, wacky set-pieces (a seance with the crazy lady wearing a gas mask, WTF!) and an over reliance on CGI, daft monsters, and the daffy concept of astral projection, which if handled properly might be something unsettling to explore. But it's not.
Like Eddie Murphy said in his stand up routine Delirious, when the folks enter the haunted house and the terrifying spectral voice tell then to "GET OUT!!!", Patrick should have turned to Rose and said "Wonderful place honey. Too bad we can't stay". Therefore when watching Insidious, when Lin Shaye arrives at the front door, turn that fucker off.
1 comment:
It was kinda good in bits...mostly Rose Byrne's bits.
Mmmm, Byrne's bits. Heh.
Nope, total arse gravy infact. I laughed so hard when Lin Shaye turned up in her bloomin' gas mask. And that was it then. Movie lost me totally.
Grade A bollocks.
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