Insidious = Inadequate

Insidious 2 was released to DVD and VOD December 24, 2013. Patrick Wilson and Rose Burns reprise their roles as Josh and Renai Lambert. James Wan once again directs.

The story picks up right from the ending of the original Insidious. Hopefully, you are not reading this if you have not seen the original because there will be spoilers. Josh went into a realm called “The Further” to rescue his young son, Dalton, who was stuck there as a result of an evil spirit who was trying to take his body (Ed Note: If I had a quarter for every time an evil spirit tried to take my body). When Josh returns to the real world it seems a demon the spirit of an evil old woman has followed him and proceeds to murder the medium Elise who had been helping his family.

Insidious 2 begins with his wife being questioned by the cops regarding the murder and the possibility of her husband being responsible. The family has also moved into Renai’s mothers house while the police process the scene of the medium’s death. Unfortunately, it seems these malevolent spirits have followed the family. Meanwhile, Josh begins to act more and more bizarrely.

Insidious 2 was by no means the worst sequel to a horror movie I have ever seen (Ed Note: Exorcist 3? Final Destination 5? Sleepaway Camp 4?), but it was disappointing. This movie attempted to explain the story behind why these evil spirits were tormenting the Lambert family and who they are. While I did like the story of who the evil spirits were in life, I just did not care for the way it was executed.  It would have been better to have given these explanations in the first chapter and have made a new chapter about a different family.

In my opinion, there was not enough of a story for these characters to continue with them into a second film. I did not find this movie even remotely frightening. There was very little humor, no one was murdered, little to no gore and only one scene I found to be creepy. In the end, I felt the plot was muddled and the movie did not hold my attention.  As my editor might say, it was a story that did not need to be told (Ed Note: Ah, you are learning young padawan).

A third film in the series was announced in September 2013 and is scheduled to be released in April 2015. The end of Chapter 2 seems to suggest the third film will be about a new family. One can only hope.

LITTLE MISS HORROR NERD’S RATING: 2 1/2 out of 5

 

The check out Insidious 2, click the picture below: