"When did the voice of reason become the bad guy here?"
This is what Poltergeist would have been if directed by the love-child of Dario Argento and Ingmar Bergman. Insidious is a classic daft low-budget ghost-train ride of a movie, seemingly referencing as many supernatural movies as it can (intentionally or not) from The Haunting through to Drag Me To Hell, even down to the (stunt) casting of Barbara Hershey as the grandmother, nearly thirty years on from The Entity. Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne give capable if occasionally too understated performances as the parents of the 'haunted' boy which centres the film on a more reflective note, contrasted with the GhostFacers-style investigative duo and the expected spiritualist, which is indicative of how the much the tone of the film wanders inconsistently. The washed-out colour palette creates a chilly atmosphere, clearly used to highlight the increasing use of red as the film progresses. The film nevertheless delivers some effective moments - the first jump-scare is a belter - only slightly let down by the obvious lack of budget for the finale. Insidious just about fulfils its purpose, but nothing more.
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