Blu-ray Review “Insidious: The Last Key”

Directed by Adam Robitel
Starring: Lin Shaye, Angus Sampson, Leigh Whannell, Spencer Locke, Caitlin Gerard, Bruce Davison
Distributed by: Universal Pictures (Theatrical)
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (Home Video)
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running time: 103 minutes

Film: 3 out of 5 stars
Blu-ray: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Extras: 3 out of 5 stars

The “Insidious” franchise has never really blown me away after the first film. Oddly enough the first “Insidious” is in my top 5 horror all time, so it’s a shame these sequels never really lived up to the first film. Taking the directorial reigns this time is Adam Robitel, he is the writer/director of “The Taking of Deborah Logan” (which is an amazing film), so I was psyched to see what he could do here. Unfortunately, I just feel like this was another unnecessary sequel. The film just doesn’t deliver anything new at all. I would love a deeper look into The Further and more subtle score led jumps like the first film had and was terrifying. This film, like the previous sequels, just lacks the terror.

Official Premise: Brilliant parapsychologist Elise Rainier receives a disturbing phone call from a man who claims that his house is haunted. Even more disturbing is the address — 413 Apple Tree Lane in Five Keys, N.M. — the home where Elise grew up as a child. Accompanied by her two investigative partners, Rainier travels to Five Keys to confront and destroy her greatest fear — the demon that she accidentally set free years earlier.

The star of the film is hands down, the amazing Lin Shaye. I have to say in this film she definitely gave her performance. She was bad-ass! God bless her, she is 74 years old and the lead of a hugely successful horror franchise. She is one of a kind. But I feel the franchise might need to take a new direction and get back to its roots in future films, which I am sure will follow. I want to see the demon/entity sitting in the corner of the room without knowing that I see it and having it terrify me know that I can’t look over to the corner with the fear that it will know I see it. That is the terror I want from the “Insidious” franchise.

“Insidious: The Last Key” comes stocked as a combo pack with a Blu-ray + Digital copy. It is also solid in the A/V department. The 1080p transfer is crisp matched with the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. The special features include an alternate ending and more than 20 minutes of additional scenes. It is worth checking out if you want to see a little more from the film. There is a franchise recap includes as well as three all-new featurettes. The first one “Becoming Elise” dives into the mythology of Elise’s origin story. The next one “Going into the Further” features everyone from the cast and crew talking about the production design and how it differs from the previous films. Lastly “Unlocking Keyface” showcases the new demon in the franchise.

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Filed Under: DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews Tagged With: bluray, insidious, key, review

Film Review “Insidious: The Last Key”

Directed by Adam Robitel
Starring: Lin Shaye, Angus Sampson, Leigh Whannell, Spencer Locke, Caitlin Gerard, Bruce Davison
Distributed by: Universal Pictures (Theatrical)
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (Home Video)
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running time: 103 minutes

Film: 3 out of 5 stars

The “Insidious” franchise has never really blown me away after the first film. Oddly enough the first “Insidious” is in my top 5 horror all time, so it’s a shame these sequels never really lived up to the first film. Taking the directorial reigns this time is Adam Robitel, he is the writer/director of “The Taking of Deborah Logan” (which is an amazing film), so I was psyched to see what he could do here. Unfortunately, I just feel like this was another unnecessary sequel. The film just doesn’t deliver anything new at all. I would love a deeper look into The Further and more subtle score led jumps like the first film had and was terrifying. This film, like the previous sequels, just lacks the terror.

Official Premise: Brilliant parapsychologist Elise Rainier receives a disturbing phone call from a man who claims that his house is haunted. Even more disturbing is the address — 413 Apple Tree Lane in Five Keys, N.M. — the home where Elise grew up as a child. Accompanied by her two investigative partners, Rainier travels to Five Keys to confront and destroy her greatest fear — the demon that she accidentally set free years earlier.

The star of the film is hands down, the amazing Lin Shaye. I have to say in this film she definitely gave her performance. She was bad-ass! God bless her, she is 74 years old and the lead of a hugely successful horror franchise. She is one of a kind. But I feel the franchise might need to take a new direction and get back to its roots in future films, which I am sure will follow. I want to see the demon/entity sitting in the corner of the room without knowing that I see it and having it terrify me know that I can’t look over to the corner with the fear that it will know I see it. That is the terror I want from the “Insidious” franchise.

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Filed Under: Film Reviews Tagged With: film, insidious, key, review

Blu-ray Review “Insidious: Chapter 2”

Starring: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, Ty Simpkins, Barbara Hershey
Directed by: James Wan
Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Release Date: December 24, 2013
Run Time: 106 minutes

Film: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Extras: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Let’s start off with the fact that “Insidious” is one of my favorite horror films, period. So I was very disappointed when I saw that “Insidious: Chapter 2” took the lazy typical horror film approach and didn’t stick with what made the first film so unique…and scary. The main goal of this film is to scare and it missing that mark complete. The first one still scares me even after seen it 15 times. This might scary a young teenager but it completely missing the mark. They tried to cram way too much in this film and focused too much on the ghosts’ back story that they became no longer a treat. There was also so many missed scared opportunities that could have really beefed up the terror. I hope they learn from their mistakes with the third (inevitable) film in this series coming out 2015. Less is more!

Official Premise: James Wan directs this supernatural suspense horror sequel. Picking up from where the last film left off, the Lamberts (Wilson and Byrne) have moved into a new home with their son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) and initially things are going well, but as the time passes it is revealed to them that whatever force was haunting them before still isn’t finished with them. They are then tasked with uncovering what it is that ties them to the spirit world while desperately trying to hold on to their sanity.

Sony is behind this Blu-ray release and they deliver us with a combo pack with a Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD Ultraviolet copy. The 1080p transfer is polished and does look impressive. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track scores with Joseph Bishara’s score, which is easily the best thing in the film. In terms of special features, the extras are a hit. “Peripheral Vision: Behind the Scenes” is a typical making-of featurette. “Ghostly Transformation” looks into the make-up effects. “Haunted Hospital: On Location” focuses on where the film was shot. “Leigh Whannell’s Insidious Journal” is a making of featurette with the writer/actor. “Work in Progress: On Set Q&A” includes chat with Barbara Hershey, Patrick Wilson, Jason Blum, James Wan, and Leigh Whannell. Lastly “Insidious: Spectral Sightings” is a third part series of webisodes for the film.

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CD Review “Insidious: Chapter 2” Music by Joseph Bishara

Composer: Joseph Bishara
Audio CD
Release Date: September 24, 2013)
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Void Recordings
Total Length: 43 minutes

Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars

When I first heard the score to “Insidious” back in 2011, I was blown away.  The score was absolutely terrifying. It really drove the film so well and perfectly executed each scare and left you hanging on the edge of your seat. When it comes to horror films, the score is so important and very few actually get it right. Joseph Bishara is one of my favorite composers as he knows what to do in order to bring the horror aspect to horror films. He has worked with director James Wan on now “Insidious” and “The Conjuring” and now this film. I loved both of those films and equally their respective scores. I have to admit though, I wasn’t a huge fan of “Insidious: Chapter 2” as a film but that doesn’t mean that Bishara didn’t completely rock it with this score.

In fact, this score was the real saving grace for me with “Insidious: Chapter 2”. Even though I didn’t find the second film scary at all, the score definitely stood out for me. In the first film, it really carried you and left you biting your nails. But even though the scares weren’t as pronounced as the first film it still added to the overall atmosphere. I felt it got a little lost while I was watching the film. Personally, I enjoyed this score much more at home on this CD listening to it while watching the film. So if you enjoyed the first score from Bishara and despite whether or not you liked the film, I would still recommend this CD because it really delivers what a horror score should sound like! Can’t wait to hear what he does next!

Track Listing:
1. Ghost photographs
2. inside your dream
3. the flickering entity
4. Insidious Chapter 2
5. you think I did this
6. new home
7. empty crib
8. empty home
9. had a bad dream
10. who behind eyes
11. Don’t You Dare
12. are you Here
13. only Ghosts left
14. this is My room
15. to Live again
16. Mater Mortis
17. putrid chamber
18. Further striking
19. feel real Pain
20. one of the Dead
21. the Mother
22. good little girl
23. closing Further
24. time to forget
25. new haunting
26. void figure 7 (ch2)

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Film Review “Insidious: Chapter 2”

Directed by: James Wan
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, Ty Simpkins, Barbara Hershey
Distributed by: FilmDistrict
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running time: 105 minutes

Our Score: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Man, I really wanted to LOVE this film. “Insidious” is easily one of my favorite horror movies of all-time. Yes! I really like it that much. Over the last two years, I have seen it probably 10-15 times and it consistently continues to scare me and to be honest sticks with me for days after watching. That to me just shows that you have a good scary movie on your hands. The visual aspect of the film is like nothing that I have ever seen before. It is amazingly creepy and really keeps you at the edge of your chair and biting your nails. Unfortunately none of that is true with “Insidious: Chapter 2”. The film tries to achieve this larger scale and falls fast into working with typical boring horror cliches.

“Insidious: Chapter 2” starts off in a flashback to 1986 where we see a younger Josh Lambert during his first meeting with Elise Ranier in order to control his astro-projections and save him from the woman in the wedding dress. From there we get taken to the night after the events of the first film, which is where we continue from. Josh’s family is suspicious about him when he starts behaving differently after that night (and if you’ve seen the first film we assume that his physical body was taken by the old woman in the wedding dress). So the family needs to find out what really happened that night after Elise was murdered.  They also realize that these ghosts that are haunting them do not seem to be finished with them.

After James Wan delivered the amazing “The Conjuring”, I thought this guy was a force to be reckoned with. This film as much as it pains me to say feels like a cash in on the popularity of “Insidious”. The story tries to act as a prequel and sequel at the same time yet crams too much in to flow well. It sacrifices critical plot points in order to fit in the back story.  The first film works so well since it has this very minimalist approach. There is also more back story behind the old woman in the wedding gown that we were introduced in the first film. I thought that she was creepy as well in the first film but as they gave the brief back story, she became less scary. In terms of scares, they are almost non-existent. There are maybe one or two decent jumps. Most importantly the ghosts especially do not have that same eerie presence that they did in the first film.

The focus of the film was steered from the main characters Josh and Renai Lambert (Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne) while they tried expand the story with the rest of the cast and like I said it all just feels too busy. There is much more focus on Barbara Hershey’s character Lorraine Lambert and also more focus on the comedy duo Specs (Leigh Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Sampson). I am sure that was a fan request…and I love their characters in the first film but I feel like in this one they were really trying to get too many laughs. In the first film the comedy was very well-blended and with the sequel it was more laugh-out-loud, which I felt didn’t work with the tone of the film.

I know that I was going into this film with very high hopes, so the anticipation was crazy high. I normally do not like doing that since then the ratio for failure is higher. When it comes down to it though, sometimes movies just don’t really need a sequel. I know the first film was left with a pretty big cliffhanger but it was a good cliffhanger. After you watched it, you continued to think about it and it messed with your head. This film does not achieve that same feeling. I should have known better than to think that a horror sequel could top the original. I will just stick with the original film and I suggest you do the same.

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