Review – Insidious: Chapter 3

The first Insidious film, which came out back in 2011, is one of the scarier and more original horror films to come out in this millennium.  It was a successful film, sitting solid with critics and having a decent box-office on a more modest budget.

But in Hollywood, with great success comes pointless sequels.  The second film, Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) is far from a terrible movie, as it had most of the original team back together and tried to relive the magic of the first one, but missed because of the lack of scares and story.  Sadly, Insidious: Chapter 3, is a bit closer to the terrible movie the second one was not and almost makes you forget how much fun the first one was.

Insidious: Chapter 3 is a prequel following a psychic, Elise Rainer (Lin Shaye), as she helps a young girl, Quinn Brenner (Stefanie Scott), and her family get rid of a spirit that wants her soul after Quinn opens up the spirit world by trying to talk to her dead mother.  The only way you could tell that this was prequel was because Quinn’s cell phone looked like a Samsung Sidekick, which was around more in the early 2000’s and the ending, where Rainer talks about starting her paranormal business, which shows up in the first and second one.  There is no other indication of it being a prequel besides me telling you.

The first half hour or so of the film was very intriguing.  The plot starts off decently and there are a few scenes of loud noises and weird faces that made me jump.  There is also a nice ode to the Hitchcock masterpiece Rear Window (1954), as Quinn gets hit by a car and breaks both legs (which is unintentionally hilarious) and is now immobile while all of the hauntings and chaos goes on, like that of Jimmy Stewart’s character in the film.  Whether that was intentional or not is a mystery, but I liked it.

The film eventually collapses in on itself.  Like all sequels, it wants to be bigger and badder than the original and most times, that isn’t a good thing.  The scares quickly disappear and the last hour is a long, boring build up to a basic, family-friendly ending.

Insidious: Chapter 3 is one of the worst films I have seen in 2015, and if not for the first half hour and the Rear Window homage, it definitely would have been a complete train wreck.

MY RATING  – 1.5/4

Did you see Insidious: Chapter 3?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter @kevflix or on Facebook at Kevflix.