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Rachel King (13 KP) rated The Hidden Flame (Acts of Faith, #2) in Books

Feb 11, 2019

I loved this book as much as I loved the first one in the series, The Centurion's Wife. I felt I could easily relate to the doubts and fears that Abigail dealt with on an almost daily basis, even though her world is far different from mine. Her humility and compassion are something for me to admire and aspire to, and I sympathized with her feelings of helplessness both in her struggle to work and her imminent betrothel. This book helped me to understand better the differences between the Pharisees and the members of the Sanhedrin, as well as the political climate of that time. I cried twice while reading the book, first while reading about Peter's shadow healing the sick and mamed as he walked and then at the point of Stephen's death. Despite the runny nose, I count this as a mark of well-written literature.
It's exciting to see how all of the names I know so well from Bible scriptures are introduced into the plotline of the novel, and it feels like taking a fresh look at events that I have read and studied over and over again, such as what happened to Ananias and Saphira. I feel like I am looking behind the scenes to what happened in between the lines of scripture, such as the events that led up to Stephen's death, the daily tasks of the members of the fledging church, as well as how the Apostles went about their daily lives, manifesting miracles as easily as shaking hands but still never taking for granted what Power worked through them. I appreciate the delicate nature of interpreting these Scriptures in a fictional text, and while there are some I know that would consider doing such as verging on blasphemous, I feel that such works serve a purpose in the "grand scheme" and hold merit.

Kudos

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.