Insidious: Chapter 2 Review

Justin and I saw Insidious: Chapter 2 on September 14, 2013!! I was excited when this movie was announced, because I found the first Insidious to be one of the best horror movies in years. I like the whole concept of The Further and transporting yourself to different dimensions in your dreams. It was very well done. I consider James Wan to be one of the best horror directors with Dario Argento being the best. I think the story that Leigh Wannell and James Wan created was brilliantly executed. The concepts, excellent music, characters, and additional back story made the second installment so amazing to watch. Once I was able to deal with the tension, I was able to ease into the movie. I can get scared pretty easily. Once, my mother put on a Quasimodo mask from the animated 1996 Disney movie Hunchback of Notre Dame and jumped out at me as I was going into the bathroom. I shrieked quite loudly and nearly had a heart attack. My Halloween costume worked to instill fear on this occasion. In this second installment, the present plot picks up right where the first one left off which was great. We are presented background information on the Lambert family, namely Josh and his mother Lorraine when they first encountered this malevolent spirit that has been terrorizing them. What follows is a great combination of excellent usage of scares (particularly the woman in white-man is she creepy-great antagonist though as you'll see), great musical scores (the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when the music reaches a crescendo), and brilliantly connected pieces between the first and second movies. I really liked the main subplot dealing with the woman in white, as well as certain things you'll find out about that woman in black we saw in Josh's photos in the first movie. I think Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson have great chemistry, and I particularly felt Byrne's fear mixed with Wilson's duality really made for great performances, and its rare to see good performances in horror movies. They even did some great things paying homage to The Shining and Psycho. I also think Ty Simpkin's role as Dalton (the son that can travel to The Further) is a great children's role because it requires a great deal of imagination. Along with these three, Barbara Hershey did a great job as Lorraine once again, as did Lin Shaye in her Elise role. I like Elise because she is like a white light for the protagonists when they find themselves in a dark corner. She is a symbol of hope in many ways, however, each protagonist plays a big part in battling the darkness in their own way. I just feel her paranormal expertise is extremely beneficial for everybody. They did a great job connecting how the characters are in the present to events in the past. It's like a jigsaw puzzle where every piece fits perfectly. The way they connected some of these scenes was creative. In fact, if you plan on re-watching the first one before you see the second one, I'd say do it, because you may or may not see certain scenes from the first one appear. This did not disappoint at all. The best part is they set this up for a third installment, because with the Further there's always another insane ghost out there. The brilliant plot, connections between the first and second films, creative well thought out back stories on our protagonists and antagonists, as well as the music, great usage of make-up, and proper usage of scares, laughs (particularly with Specs & Tucker-the duo with Elise from the first movie), and intricately placed twists make this a 5/5. I am already looking forward to seeing what they will do with the third movie, because this story seems like it will focus on another main character, which can keep this going. There's so many creative ways to incorporate chief antagonist ghosts. Insidious Chapters 1 & 2 are both very well done. Both stand on their own with their own unique sub-plot, yet still connect to each other. I definitely recommend this even if you're not a horror person, because the actual story is still very interesting.