WHO’S IN IT?
Patrick Wilson (Watchmen), Rose Byrne (Bridesmaids), Ty Simpkins (Iron Man 3), Barbara Hershey (Black Swan), Lin Shaye (My Sister’s Keeper), Leigh Whannell (Saw), Angus Sampson (Darkness Falls)
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
James Wan (The Conjuring), director; Leigh Whannell (Saw II), writer; Jason Blum (Sinister) and Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity), producers; Joseph Bishara (Insidious), composer; John R. Leonetti (The Mask), cinematographer; Kirk M. Morri (Insidious), editor
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Following on from their experiences in the first film, the haunted Lambert family, headed by husband and wife Josh and Renai (Wilson and Byrne), seek to uncover the mysterious childhood secret that has left them with dangerous connections to the spirit world…
WHY SHOULD YOU BE EXCITED?
Arriving in 2011 to little hype and only a qualified director and two known stars to its name, Insidious quickly became the year’s most profitable film with $97 million worldwide gross next to its $1.5 million budget. Not only that, but it was actually scary and, as we all know with horror films, people love to recommend scary things, ironically.
Like all horror films that do well financially, a continuation soon got in the works and is now all set to scare once again. Insidious: Chapter 2 is the prime result of the creative minds from Chapter 1 coming back together to create something on par or, perhaps, even better than its predecessor. Not least because it sees the return of director and screenwriter James Wan and Leigh Whannell respectively, and lead actors Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Ty Simpkins and Barbara Hershey, which should definitely inspire some levels of confidence in any sequel-phobe out there.
Wan is already on a roll this year, with the success of his latest horror flick The Conjuring and his subsequent hiring to direct next year’s sequel Fast and Furious 7. But before he gets in with Vin Diesel and his crew’s shiny cars, he has unfinished business to attend to with presumably wrapping up the loose plot threads he left dangling in the last film. Already established is that father Josh (Wilson) and son Dalton (Simpkins) can astral project into different spiritual worlds, including one known as The Further where the nastier spirits inhabit themselves as they wait for a chance to live again. But the film’s final scenes imply that Josh, having gone in to rescue the comatose Dalton, has now been possessed by a creepy old woman spirit who had previously been in the shadows (so to speak). Does he truly have someone else inside his body? Where did all of these astral projection abilities come from to begin with? Why is this family being possessed by Darth Maul (you’ll understand if you’ve seen it already)?
Hopefully, we’ll have some answers in Insidious: Chapter 2, which seems to provide even more scares and a further exploration of the spiritual worlds we only saw glimpses of in the first one. Either that, or it’ll keep going and going while giving more questions than ever answers, much like the current fate of the Paranormal Activity series (incidentally, original director Oren Peli serves as producer on both Insidious films).
Whatever the outcome may be, it should be yet another fantastic film to add to Wan’s impressive list of directional features, and a worthy addition to a growing franchise that actually delivers on its spooks, scares and Darth Maul demons. If you haven’t seen the first one yet, it’s probably worthwhile watching it before trekking to the cinema – just have a cushion on standby to hide behind when you do.
