Insidious: The Red Door (2023)

Let’s be honest, the Insidious series isn’t the greatest in movie history. The first one was ok, the second was not great and I don’t even remember the third one with the fourth one being interesting but only because it featured Lin Shayne in the lead role. This one returns to the main family with Patrick Wilson taking the helm behind the camera. The set up is that Dalton is off to college but his suppressed memories start to come back and his relationship with his dad Josh (Wilson) is somewhat strained.

The first half of the film is very boring. There was very little in the way of plot and it seemed like people moping around and Dalton being a dick to his dad and his dad not really sure what he should be doing. Once the plot does get going things get good but it takes a long time to get to this stage and not even jump scares make any difference. There is one jump scare that I thought was quite good and it was when Dalton was in the MRI scanner and the monster climbs towards him. 

It’s not the worst film in the series but it’s not the best. The first half really lets the film down because if I was reviewing the second half then this would be a pretty decent horror film but sadly he lack of action, the lack of any energy from the film or actors does the film no favours. I thought that Patrick Wilson does a good job in the directors chair but I think that the script lets him down. Ty Simpkins is the real star oft the film but doesn’t come across very well to begin with as he is horrible to pretty much everyone but does mellow out. 

The film does feature Rose Byrne at the beginning and at the end and she’s fine in that but to be honest I don’t think her limited involvement in the story was because of her availability but because there was little enough for Patrick Wilson to do that it would have been just as big a waste of Byrne if she were more involved in the film. 

I have a feeling that this film is not going to be the last in the series because like most Blum films they are cheap to make and will make way more than their budget back. I hope in the next instalment there is more thought put into the plot. 

On a side note, when I went to the cinema I had never seen so many people get up and down than during this screening. It was lunchtime on a Saturday so there was a decent number in the screening and yet people were getting up and down showing that people weren’t that engaged in the story.