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Steve Fearon (84 KP) rated Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) in Movies

Sep 7, 2018

Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)

2013 | Horror, Mystery

6.7

(21 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Some good tension ramping (1 more)

Jump Scares are on point

The 'Baddies' in this lack the pure sinister power of the demon from the first. (1 more)

Its a little 'straightforward haunted house movie' for my tastes

Decent Tension, but disappointingly predictable

Contains spoilers, click to show

Straight off the bat, if you liked the first Insidious, you will likely like the second.

Following straight on from the end of the first film, we are straight back with Wan's favourite boy Patrick Wilson and family, and the plot is a solid continuation of the themes explored in the first movie.

The camerawork in this movie, the framing of some of the shots etc is phenomenal and genuinely half of the tension of this film is generated by clever angles, and the lurching movement of the camera itself.

But where Insidious always began to struggle for me was in the mythos and the 'spirit realm' where it went a bit 'poltergeist' and took me out of the tension build in both films, though some of the ideas were interesting.

This film's antagonists never reach the same level of intimidation and fear as represented by the brilliant 'Darth Maul' Demon of the initial flick, but there are some interesting dynamics introduced using a serial killer and his relationship with his mother.

The biggest disappointment is probably just that Insidious 2 doesn't really ever expand on the first, leaving us with a nicely wrapped up story, but without really expanding our understanding or excitement for what a 3rd installment could offer.

That being said, it does enough right to make it an enjoyable watch, and the class of Wan and Whannell is evident throughout.

A polished, decent scare fest with plenty of strengths, but lacking in a truly memorable antagonist.