Retro Review: Insidious - Chapter Two

Writer's Note: Lots of cool birthdays today! 

Happy birthday to legendary director Ken Russell, whose Altered States was one of my first posted reviews here- check him, and the movie out, one of my all-time favorites. I also particularly recommend The Devils (not for the faint of heart), his bonkers adaptation of The Who's seminal rock opera, Tommy; and the out-there art-house horror flicks Crimes of Passion, Gothic and The Lair of the White Worm. 

In addition, there's actor/director Michele Soavi, whose Stage Fright I reviewed recently. He did an excellent overview of a fellow Italian director's career, Dario Argento's World of Horror, as well as the horror flicks The Church (that's him with star Asia Argento in the above pic), The Sect and Cemetary Man, all of which are well-worth seeing.

Acting-wise, he was in City of the Living Dead (aka Gates of Hell), a Lucio Fulci gore-fest; Absurd, The New York Ripper (also from Fulci), Dario Argento's Tenebrae, Phenomena and Opera; Lamberto Bava's A Blade in the Dark and Demons and had cameos in all the films of his that I mentioned. 

In addition, lots of lovely ladies were born today, including French actress Ludivine Sagnier (Swimming Pool, The Devil's Double), Shawnee Smith (The Blob, the Saw series) and geek bait Olivia Munn (X-Men movies, the late, great Attack of the Show!). 

For today, however, I'm going to highlight actor Patrick Wilson, who turns 45 today. His impressive resume includes movies like The Phantom of the Opera, Hard Candy, Little Children, Running with Scissors, Watchmen, Young Adult, Prometheus, Zipper, Bone Tomahawk, A Kind of Murder, The Founder, The Commuter and TV's Fargo.

However, he's arguably best-known for his series of horror films with director James Wan, including the Insidious and The Conjuring franchises, both of which involve him standing obliviously while creepy shit is happening right behind him- as evidenced in the pics above, lol. 

I'll be reviewing the latest in the Insidious series, The Last Key, soon, but until then, here's a look back at Insidious: Chapter Two. (In case you missed it, here's my take on the first film in the series.)

This review was originally published in UAB's Kaleidoscope on September 15th, 2013.

There’s an old adage, when it comes to art, which says: if you’re going to steal, steal from the best. Boy, does writer/director James Wan ever get that saying. This year’s horror smash The Conjuring was like a veritable greatest hits of horror, and the original Insidious played like a modern variation of The Haunting and Poltergeist in particular.

With Insidious: Chapter Two, Wan aims even higher, looking for inspiration from the masters, people like Alfred Hitchcock- in particular, Psycho- and Stanley Kubrick, by way of The Shining. Lofty goals, to be sure, but Wan does his inspirations justice, even if he doesn’t quite surpass them.

Then again, who could, really? Better to approximate greatness at the very least, and Wan does that just fine in this engaging and satisfying follow-up to the original Insidious.

Picking up more or less where we left off, with the death of a major character at the end of the last installment (at least after a quick diversion into the past), this one really does tie up all the loose ends in a genuinely clever way that makes you think they absolutely must have planned it this way from the jump.  

If they didn’t, then it’s all the more impressive an achievement. Chapter Two manages to propel the story forward by looking back, then forward, then doubling back into itself in a way that you can’t help but be wowed by.

You definitely want to re-watch the original before seeing this, if only to truly appreciate how much thought went into this sequel, which earns that “Chapter” moniker by truly tying everything together in a way that makes perfect sense within the confines of the story being told, as well as the one already established, without remotely feeling like a cheat.  

Most sequels are content to rehash; this one expands and complicates things in a really cool way that will leave you saying they had to have planned this thing out this way or it wouldn’t have worked nearly as well as it does.

Given a lot of the crap that passes for horror these days, it’s nice to see someone actually put some thought into things for a change. This isn’t just a quick cash grab, and that’s a pretty cool thing in and of itself, because it would have been really easy to have done just that.

Least of all with this film being director Wan’s second within the space of a single year, which is an impressive achievement as well- especially since both films are of such high caliber of quality. I don’t know that I have a single complaint about either this or The Conjuring and that’s kind of remarkable.

Of course, it does sort of beg the question: what if they keep going? After all, that’s precisely what got the Saw franchise in trouble (which Wan also started, but ultimately didn't finish, leaving the dirty work to lesser talents). Not to mention  Insidious-producer Oren Peli, whose own Paranormal Activity franchise officially went off the rails with the last installment. 

I think The Conjuring is the best bet to keep going by far. After all, there were all those super-creepy items in the Warrens’ collection. Any one of those items could provide a launching point for another satisfying movie, I’ve no doubt, and the Warrens are certainly compelling enough characters to sustain any number of films in an ongoing series.

(Writer's Note: Called it! Though, admittedly, the first Annabelle was an ignoble start to extending the Conjuring series, they quickly righted things with the sequel, and The Nun, which ties in both Insidious and The Conjuring looks really promising.)

My only complaint about Insidious: Chapter Two is that it clearly ends in such a way as to blatantly set up another film in the series. However, it also draws the main story-line of the first film to such a satisfying close that you kind of wish it ended right where it does.

Maybe they could have labeled the sequel something else altogether, like Insidious: The Next Case or something, since that’s kind of what the ending implies anyway. I guess we’ll find out whenever the next installment comes out- and you just know it will. 

In the meantime, I can’t imagine anyone who liked the first one not liking this installment just fine, despite the clear intention to keep things going for another one. I mean, that’s sort of to be expected, right? You can close the door, but you never, ever, lock it, right?

That’s not how they do things in Hollywood, and least of all in horror, which just loves a good franchise. Looking at you, Friday the 13th, Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street, among many others…

So, if you’re in the mood for a solid scare-fest with a respectable cast, and some novel twists, you’ve come to the right place. Insidious: Chapter Two is more of the same, but in a slightly different way that the first that keeps it from being a totally rehash- in that the influences here are different than in the first one.

The story’s more elaborate, the spooky locations are more plentiful (we also get to see Elsie’s digs, a freaky hospital, and another house of horrors that is mighty twisted, plot-wise), and the resolution is satisfying. What more do you want, really, in a sequel? 

I give it a well-earned A+ and hope against hope that Wan can somehow manage to keep up the good work- and continue to steal from the best in just-as-impressive ways in the future.