INSIDIOUS 3

Insidious 3 Movie Review

Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) comes out of retirement to help Quinn Brenner (Stefanie Scott), a teen having trouble contacting her dead mother--the trouble you ask? Evil spirits are terrorizing her. The third installment of the Insidious series is actually a prequel to the first two, and, most unfortunately, focuses largely on Elise. This sort of character is fine as a character that pops in for a few minutes, but to have half a film dedicated to her is a bit much, and Shaye's acting doesn't get any better--sadly she's not even the worst actor in this film. That dubious distinction goes to Tate Berney as Alex, Quinn's brother--mercifully he's only in a couple scenes, and honestly, I have no idea why the character was even written into the film. On the other end of the spectrum Scott does a pretty good job as Quinn, and Dermot Mulroney (Young Guns 2, Where The Day Takes You) is decent as Quinn's dad, though I expected a much better performance from him. The strength of the film, naturally, is in the scares.

Your face without eyes

Some of the spirits/demons are fairly scary (in particular The Man Who Can't Breathe), and we get a brief return of the red-faced demon everybody knows and loves. We do see some very intense, scary scenes in this film, including the spirit walking calmly about Quinn's room, making it darker as Quinn is frozen in fear. We also get some unexpected jumps, though the reliance on this is a bit much at times. As we approach the apex of the film we are re-introduced to Tucker and Specs, who once again provide unneeded comic relief (though it was much more welcome in this film). Of course we also see how the pair form a business with Elise.



I am a big fan of the first two Insidious films, and was excited when this third installment was announced, but alas, it fails in many ways to live up to the first two. As with all sequels/prequels one must separate it from the other films as much as possible and imagine it on its own legs--applying that theory to Insidious 3, you are still left with a film that is just okay and does little to separate itself from the pack of similar films.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 6

Insidious 3 Trailer