Insidious Chapter 3 (2015)

SYNOPSIS

“No matter what happens. No matter what you see. Stay strong.”       

–      Elise Rainier

CRITIQUE

Here’s what I wrote about this one in my theatrical review:

Insidious Chapter 3 (2015)

“Before she arrived to save the Lambert family from certain doom, psychic Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) was trying to put her supernatural glory days behind her. With the sudden death of her husband, bearing witness to a powerful revelation that some force beyond the earthly realm would like to do her harm, the woman is trying to be content to live out the remainder of her years in quiet. She just doesn’t want to get involved, dealing with ghosts, demons and all of their ethereal counterparts no longer for her.

Then she meets 18-year-old Quinn Brenner (Stefanie Scott). The smart, emotionally pure teenager has just lost her own mother, the after effects lingering inside her household, transforming her well-meaning father Sean (Dermot Mulroney) into a wreck and leaving her little brother Alex (Tate Berney) quietly wondering what is going on. But when a terrifying accident sends Quinn to death’s door and leaves her with two broken legs, it’s immediately apparent to Elise she didn’t return from the other side alone. Something is stalking the young woman, a demonic thing intent on feasting on her soul, and it’s up to the psychic to decide if she’s ready to return to the supernatural battlefield or if she’d rather turn a blind eye and let the Brenner family fend for themselves.

Box office hits or no, I can’t say I was a fan of director James Wan (Furious 7, The Conjuring) and screenwriter Leigh Whannell’s (Saw, Dead Silence) previous journeys into ‘The Further’ (the land between the living and the dead), Insidious and Insidious Chapter 2. While each supernatural freak show about a family being hunted by a ferocious evil intent on returning to the living world via possession had their respective moments, they also had their fair share of problems. Lack of focus. Inconsistency in tone. Unforgivable lapses into stupidity. Comedic bits that weren’t comedic and were remarkably ill-conceived. All of these issues and more dogged the two horror films from start to finish, and as such I found little other than disappointment in the watching of them both.

Taking over the directorial reins, Whannell finishes up his trilogy with Insidious Chapter 3. But instead of continuing onward from where the second film left off he chooses instead to offer up something of a de facto prequel chronicling how psychic and ghost fighter Elise got her mojo back after suffering a heartbreaking setback. While there are ample hints alluding to the events to come – pictures, references and visual clues abound, as does one gigantic spectral reappearance of a devilish fiend – the filmmaker actually allows this story to stand on its own. This is both as much Elise Rainier’s spiritual rebirth as it is a saga of a family in crisis, both coming together at just the right moment, each needing the other more than they initially realize.

The central scenario might be overly familiar, and I honestly can’t say Whannell’s film doesn’t do a darn thing that isn’t unexpected, but forgive me if, somewhat surprisingly, I kind of liked this prequel. It moves well, the balance between comedy and scares is solid, it’s spectacularly shot by Brian Pearson (Into the Storm), superbly scored by returning composer Joseph Bishara (Dark Skies) and unleashes its onslaught of jump scares (of which there are many, probably too many) with far more skill and effectiveness than usual for this type of affair. The film winks at the audience with knowing self-effacing glee when necessary only to play things cryptically and creepily close to the vest in the very next instant. It’s fun stuff, all of it anchored by a performance from Shaye that’s complex, strong and emotionally captivating.

Not that Whannell avoids prequel pitfalls entirely. As this effort takes place before the events of the previous two films, it’s not like a lot can happen to Elise, so even when she’s doing her best Sigourney Weaver impersonation locking horns with the demonic version of the Alien Queen there’s never any doubt who’s going to come out on top. Tension on that front is difficult to maintain, and even if the Brenner family are an unknown factor it’s safe to say that it would be unlikely our heroine would emerge from any of this as empowered and ready to tackle the forces of darkness as her sojourns with the Lamberts showcased if things were to go too deathly sour.

Insidious Chapter 3 (2015)

Be that as it may, it’s odd that this series keeps learning from its mistakes as it moves along. While not a complete success, and certainly offering nothing new, Insidious Chapter 3 is without a doubt the most consistently entertaining effort this trio of horror enterprises has offered up as of yet. It’s frightfully okay, fans of the previous motion pictures almost certain to walk away satisfied.”

I am not the biggest cheerleader for the Insidious franchise, my issues with the first two chapters in this trilogy fairly well known. Still, Chapter 3 isn’t too bad, breaking both the prequel curse as well as cracking through my relative indifference to this series with reasonably decent force. Not a great horror effort, not at all, but still an exceedingly watchable one, Leigh Whannell proving he’s got some decently series directorial chops as he takes viewers into The Further one last time.

THE VIDEO

Insidious Chapter 3 is presented on a dual-layer 50GB Blu-ray with a MPEG-4 AVC encode and a 2.39:1 1080p transfer.

THE AUDIO

This Blu-ray features both English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack along with a Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 track and comes with optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles.

THE EXTRAS

Extras here include:

Origin Story: Making Chapter 3 (19:04) – Solid overview featurette looking at how this film fits in with the franchise as a whole.

Stunts: The Car Crash (9:35) – A solid look at one of the prequel’s more heart-stopping stunt sequences.

Macabre Creations (8:58) – Great featurette analyzing the film’s use of practical, CG and makeup effects.

Cherry Glazerr: Tiptoe Through the Tulips (5:16) – Star Stefanie Scott turns into a journalist, playfully interviewing the band at the center of some of the film’s more tuneful musical conceptions.

Being Haunted: A Psychic Medium Speaks (11:34) – Psychic Medium Michael J. Kouri chats about some of the ideas presented in the Insidious franchise and his thoughts in regards to their ghostly possibility.

Deleted Scenes (5:13)

A HD Digital Copy of the film is included with this release. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

I’m never going to proclaim that any of the Insidious films are particularly terrific, but, as a series, they do get better as they go along, Chapter 3 in my opinion the best entry in the entire trilogy. Sony’s Blu-ray presentation is magnificent, and for those who are bigger fans of James Wan and Leigh Whannell’s descents in the ethereal darkness than myself this is a hi-def presentation worth going into The Further to acquire.