Insidious Chapter 2 (2013): A Macabre Review.

Starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye

Directed by James Wan

Well, I saw Insidious: Chapter 2 last night.  I was going into it with a fair amount of optimism, as I did enjoy the first Insidious despite it's relatively high number of jump scares.  The characters were well done, most of the jump scares were pretty effective, and while the last third of the movie got kind of strange with the whole astral projection trip into "The Further," all in all it was a good time.  So now I'll talk about the sequel and if it's worth a trip to the cinema.

Insidious: Chapter 2 takes place immediately following the ending of part one.  The Lambert family are now staying with Josh's mother Lorraine while the death of medium Elise is being investigated by police.  For a short time, everything seems like it might be getting back to normal.  But it wouldn't be much of a sequel if it stayed that way.  Not a lot of time passes before things start to happen.  The downstairs piano plays a song Renai made in the first movie and the baby's walker plays music and moves around on its own.  When Josh is told of the things happening, he refuses to admit it and tells Renai it's her imagination.

"Why can't we have rats in our house instead of ghosts, like a normal family?"

Unfortunately, things get worse.  A mysterious woman in white is seen every now and then, and Josh is acting rather strangely, talking to himself and looking and acting less and less like his normal self.  After Lorraine sees the woman in white herself, she gets in touch with Elise's lackeys Specks and Tucker in order to figure out why things are still happening to the family.  Specks and Tucker in turn contact Carl, another medium who was present for Josh's own situation when he was a kid.

This is where the movie sort of splits into two parts, where we have the goings on in the Lambert home on one side, and a paranormal investigation of an abandoned hospital on the other.  During the investigation we learn who the Bride in Black is who's been after Josh for so long, and the connection between the Bride and the woman in white, and that Josh's visit to The Further didn't end as happily as previously expected.  But have they found out in time before irreversible damage has been done to the Lambert family?

"Hey you!! Throw me a grape and I'll catch it in my mouth."

Insidious: Chapter 2 was a fairly decent time to me.  It was good to see everyone reprise their roles, and once again they made me care about the characters they played.  Patrick Wilson should get special mention however, as he was great later in the movie.  His performance was comparable to Jack Nicholson in the Shining (even though both roles were under totally different circumstances).  Speck and Tucker had more screen time, and any comic relief they delivered didn't interrupt suspenseful moments, which I liked.

While the movie wasn't 100% jump scares, they made up the majority.  Which, as I've mentioned before, is not a good thing to me.  Here and there a jump scare can be done quite effectively, but for the most part they're predictable and not very effective.  Here, some were pretty effective, but I found myself rolling my eyes or just plain unimpressed at others.

I also noticed something very odd that occurred around the beginning of the movie.  It starts back in the 80s where a young Elise is looking into Josh's supernatural troubles.  For some odd reason they dubbed over Lindsay Seim's voice with Lin Shaye's (older Elise) voice, which I found incredibly dumb and distracting.  And from what I could tell, her voice was the only one dubbed over, which made it even more senseless.

Was Insidious: Chapter 2 better than it's predecessor?  Not really.  Did it even really need to have been made?  Probably not.  Should you go see it in theater?  That depends.  While I did get some amusement hearing random screaming from girls in the audience from the jump scares, I don't really think it's totally necessary to go see it.  You're probably better off renting it or seeing it on some streaming service.  But I still think you should see it at some point.  It answers questions and winds up the Lambert story (whether you cared for closure or not) once and for all.  While not without its flaws, and not the best horror of the year by any means, you won't feel like you've wasted your time watching.  Rest in peace everyone.

Macabre Rating: 3 out of 5 tombstones