Forums
Horror Movie Talk
"Insidious" : My 14th Favorite Horror Movie
After a hiatus that was longer than I would have liked, I'm happy to be back with the next installment of my top 25 favorite horror movies countdown. To recap for any newly minted Bidites who may have missed my earlier installments, so far the favorites I've chosen have included Scream 3, Friday the 13th part 2, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Piranha 3D, Hatchet, Pumpkinhead, Paranormal Activity, Slither. Scream 2. In the Mouth of Madness and the recently released The Cabin in the Woods, respectively.I invite you now to turn your attention towards another recent film that was a pretty popular topic of discuson just last year. Though this one didn't receive quite the same level of acclaim as Cabin. in some ways, it is every bit as ambitious, while also providing a greater number of genuine scares. It gives me great pleasure to present my 14th favorite horror movie of all time:Indious
ted medium named Elise Rainier (a dynamite Lin Shaye, who is no stranger to the horror genre). But before Elise gets there, she sends a couple of advance scouts to make sure the case is actually worthy of her attention. That's when we get to meet the nerdy and socially awkward Tucker (Angus Sampson) and Specs (screenwriter Leigh Whannell himself), whose constant need to one-up each other often causes them to display a lack of sentivity to the Lambert family's plight. Tucker and Specs bring a robust amount of humor with them, which may initially seem at odds with the overall tone of the film to some viewers. However, I have actually met paranormal investigators in real life when they've come shopping for books on folklore and hauntings in bookstores where I worked, and they truly did act a lot like Tucker and Specs (although the movie verons are just slightly better dressed). The goofiness and lack of social graces displayed by these two held an authenticity that won me over, and the fact that they are somewhat out of step with the other characters soon began to seem like a deliberate device of the script, rather than an overght or mistake.
ted young man. He is able to astrally project his spirit from his body, and has been doing so in his sleep. nce he thought he was only dreaming, he was unafraid to wander as far as he was able, and he ended up becoming lost in a place that Elise calls "the Further." Dalton's uninhabited phycal body therefore became an attractive gateway into our world for a numerous assortment of entities, all with their own motivations and histories, and all of whom are scrabbling for the chance to possess the young man's form. Some of these things just want another chance at life, but a few of them are downright...I have to say it...indious. The scariest and most important of the otherworldly antagonists are a red and black faced demon who seems to be in near total control of who can see him, and when, and a tall, gaunt old woman who some of our characters turn out to have encountered before. Although they're not as integral to the plot, we also get to meet a ghostly family of apparent murder victims, and their shotgun toting killer, all of whom wear garish, frozen expresons and seem to be able to teleport from room to room. The sheer power and capability of the supernatural entities in Indious
is yet another factor that distinguishes it from many other films. These things can really hurt people and have no qualms about revealing their presence in order to do so. They throw characters around rooms like they're filled with straw and can even emit shockwaves of demonic energy that can take out half a dozen people at once. Rather than opting to hint at the presence of evil beasties without ever having the gumption to show us what they look like, Indious gives us full on views of some pretty cool looking ghosts and demons who seem strong enough to give a team of superheroes a run for their money. Of course, the people going up against them are far from being superheroes, which makes the whole set up all the scarier.
It's not just the monsters we get a good look at, either, but also the world they inhabit. Eventually, a rescue attempt is made to retrieve Dalton's lost soul when a way is found to send another character after him into the Further. At first, the place seems like just an endless stretch of pitch darkness, but that turns out just to be the outer border of a fantastically twisted and richly imagined dimenon. In order to get out, Dalton and his rescuer have to confront the red faced demon deep in the heart of his own lair, a palacial, cavernous place that I couldn't help being impressed by.
The film is peppered throughout (especially in the scenes that take place in the Further) with a mucal score that would be right at home in a Dario Argento film. A whole department of people contributed to this score, and they really did themselves proud. I don't typically come away from modern horror films with any clear memory of what the muc sounded like, but I will never forget the nerve-rattling jangle of the Indious score. It always seems to pop up at just the right time to add extra depth to the constantly mounting tenon and suspense.Some people have bemoaned the fact that Indious is only rated PG-13, feeling that any self-respecting horror film should have a solid R rating. While I agree with that notion to some extent, in the case of this film, you shouldn't let the PG-13 rating fool you. All it really means here is that Indious didn't need a ton of gore to tell its story and it's not one of those films that will ever be known for its body count. You still get the sense that these characters are in near constant danger and it's still a scarier film than a good number of its R-rated fellow travelers.Indious has no shame about ung several plot devices we've seen in other movies, including creaky houses, doors flying open and closed on their own, and a child's clumsy drawings which turn out to have crucial gnificance in convincing a skeptical adult that yes, something supernatural really is occurring here. However, in the cases where it does use elements we've seen before, it usually tweaks them just enough to make them its own. The child's drawings, in particular, are used here in a much more touching way than I have seen in any other scary flicks that have done milar things. While upholding time honored elements of horror, Indious
also adds some unique elements to the genre. It has a deeper metaphycal bent than many other tales of haunted families, it gives us the well-realized
world of the Further to feast our minds and imaginations on, it moves at a more engaging clip than a lot of films in any genre, and it features monsters that are unafraid to throw their power around and do not shy away from human contact. it's also one of those rare gems in which every ngle actor playing a main character delivers an impeccable performance. This cast was obviously perfectly in tune with their director, a fact that shows from the very first scene to the very last. It wraps its ambitious number of plot elements up into an impresvely neat package by the time it reaches its wicked gut-punch of an ending, and sends you away satified, but still concerned for and attached to its characters. It blew me away even after I initially leaped to the concluon that it couldn't, and made me absolutely thrilled to be proven wrong.My 13th favorite horror movie is coming soon, so stay tuned!
ted medium named Elise Rainier (a dynamite Lin Shaye, who is no stranger to the horror genre). But before Elise gets there, she sends a couple of advance scouts to make sure the case is actually worthy of her attention. That's when we get to meet the nerdy and socially awkward Tucker (Angus Sampson) and Specs (screenwriter Leigh Whannell himself), whose constant need to one-up each other often causes them to display a lack of sentivity to the Lambert family's plight. Tucker and Specs bring a robust amount of humor with them, which may initially seem at odds with the overall tone of the film to some viewers. However, I have actually met paranormal investigators in real life when they've come shopping for books on folklore and hauntings in bookstores where I worked, and they truly did act a lot like Tucker and Specs (although the movie verons are just slightly better dressed). The goofiness and lack of social graces displayed by these two held an authenticity that won me over, and the fact that they are somewhat out of step with the other characters soon began to seem like a deliberate device of the script, rather than an overght or mistake.
ted young man. He is able to astrally project his spirit from his body, and has been doing so in his sleep. nce he thought he was only dreaming, he was unafraid to wander as far as he was able, and he ended up becoming lost in a place that Elise calls "the Further." Dalton's uninhabited phycal body therefore became an attractive gateway into our world for a numerous assortment of entities, all with their own motivations and histories, and all of whom are scrabbling for the chance to possess the young man's form. Some of these things just want another chance at life, but a few of them are downright...I have to say it...indious. The scariest and most important of the otherworldly antagonists are a red and black faced demon who seems to be in near total control of who can see him, and when, and a tall, gaunt old woman who some of our characters turn out to have encountered before. Although they're not as integral to the plot, we also get to meet a ghostly family of apparent murder victims, and their shotgun toting killer, all of whom wear garish, frozen expresons and seem to be able to teleport from room to room. The sheer power and capability of the supernatural entities in Indious
is yet another factor that distinguishes it from many other films. These things can really hurt people and have no qualms about revealing their presence in order to do so. They throw characters around rooms like they're filled with straw and can even emit shockwaves of demonic energy that can take out half a dozen people at once. Rather than opting to hint at the presence of evil beasties without ever having the gumption to show us what they look like, Indious gives us full on views of some pretty cool looking ghosts and demons who seem strong enough to give a team of superheroes a run for their money. Of course, the people going up against them are far from being superheroes, which makes the whole set up all the scarier.
It's not just the monsters we get a good look at, either, but also the world they inhabit. Eventually, a rescue attempt is made to retrieve Dalton's lost soul when a way is found to send another character after him into the Further. At first, the place seems like just an endless stretch of pitch darkness, but that turns out just to be the outer border of a fantastically twisted and richly imagined dimenon. In order to get out, Dalton and his rescuer have to confront the red faced demon deep in the heart of his own lair, a palacial, cavernous place that I couldn't help being impressed by. The film is peppered throughout (especially in the scenes that take place in the Further) with a mucal score that would be right at home in a Dario Argento film. A whole department of people contributed to this score, and they really did themselves proud. I don't typically come away from modern horror films with any clear memory of what the muc sounded like, but I will never forget the nerve-rattling jangle of the Indious score. It always seems to pop up at just the right time to add extra depth to the constantly mounting tenon and suspense.Some people have bemoaned the fact that Indious is only rated PG-13, feeling that any self-respecting horror film should have a solid R rating. While I agree with that notion to some extent, in the case of this film, you shouldn't let the PG-13 rating fool you. All it really means here is that Indious didn't need a ton of gore to tell its story and it's not one of those films that will ever be known for its body count. You still get the sense that these characters are in near constant danger and it's still a scarier film than a good number of its R-rated fellow travelers.Indious has no shame about ung several plot devices we've seen in other movies, including creaky houses, doors flying open and closed on their own, and a child's clumsy drawings which turn out to have crucial gnificance in convincing a skeptical adult that yes, something supernatural really is occurring here. However, in the cases where it does use elements we've seen before, it usually tweaks them just enough to make them its own. The child's drawings, in particular, are used here in a much more touching way than I have seen in any other scary flicks that have done milar things. While upholding time honored elements of horror, Indiousalso adds some unique elements to the genre. It has a deeper metaphycal bent than many other tales of haunted families, it gives us the well-realized
world of the Further to feast our minds and imaginations on, it moves at a more engaging clip than a lot of films in any genre, and it features monsters that are unafraid to throw their power around and do not shy away from human contact. it's also one of those rare gems in which every ngle actor playing a main character delivers an impeccable performance. This cast was obviously perfectly in tune with their director, a fact that shows from the very first scene to the very last. It wraps its ambitious number of plot elements up into an impresvely neat package by the time it reaches its wicked gut-punch of an ending, and sends you away satified, but still concerned for and attached to its characters. It blew me away even after I initially leaped to the concluon that it couldn't, and made me absolutely thrilled to be proven wrong.My 13th favorite horror movie is coming soon, so stay tuned!
ImmortalSidneyP
Monday 5/14/2012 at 08:08 AM | 93069
Definitely one of the scariest movie I've watched. But to get the best out of it, you needed to see it in theaters or a surround sound system at home.
Slice 0f Life
Wednesday 5/16/2012 at 02:35 PM | 93097
