KNOCK, knock.
Who’s there?
Insidious.
Insidious who?
Enough of the questions already. Just give us your cash and watch a first-rate modern horror franchise fall flat on its face.
Insidious: The Red Door has its moments, but they are few and far between. Overall it’s just a rehash of everything that has come before it. There’s a couple of jump scares but these are predictable and unduly clamorous. There’s literally nothing here we haven’t seen done before, and done so much better, in previous films.
In this, the final chapter of the horror franchise, the original cast returns for the conclusion of the Lambert family’s terrifying saga.
But, where in the first two Insidious films, they packed a malevolent and rather innovative punch, well capable of turning you into an anxious wreck, now, it all feels rather desperate with none of the creepy atmosphere of old.
To put their demons to rest once and for all, Josh (Patrick Wilson) and a college-aged Dalton (Ty Simpkins) must go deeper into The Further than ever before, facing their family’s dark past and a host of new terrors, which are not unlikely to raise your pulse or the hairs on the back of your neck.
As a big fan of the earlier movies, The Red Door proved a huge disappointment. Actually it’s probably a shame that they didn’t close the door on the franchise after the second instalment – it certainly would have felt more satisfying.
This final chapter, and let’s hope it really is the final chapter, feels like a visit into The Further after having a doze on Christmas Day following a big feed of turkey and trifle. The drama is gone.
The chilling and gleeful lunacy of earlier films is lost, and sadly what’s left is a big bloated mess that can’t make up its mind whether it wants to be ‘teen horror’ or a corny supernatural ghost story. Either way, it left me cold.
Shut that door behind you, on the way out!
(2/5)
