At the Movies with Fatwayne

Insidious – definition: operating or proceeding in an inconspicuous or seemingly harmless way but actually with grave effect- an insidious disease. Well, that pretty much describes the first part of this horror movie.  The audience knows that one of the family’s sons, Dalton (Ty Simpkins) is not suffering from a coma because of a fall in the attic of his house. Anyone who resides outside the most remote corner of the world knows that this is a movie about possession.

A couple, Renai and Josh Lambert (Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson) along with their kids move into a new home. I thought, here we go again – another haunted house movie. Things progress relatively normally at first but then strange things begin to happen including Dalton’s fall in the attic that leaves him in a “coma” which his doctors can not explain. As occurrences go from bad to worse, Renai becomes so frightened that she insists that the family leave the house. Unfortunately for the Lamberts, this move provides little solace since the paranormal events continue to occur actually becoming more frequent and more terrifying in their new abode.

As the movie progresses we are introduced to Josh’s mother, Lorraine (Barbara Hershey) and her longtime friend Elise Reiner (Lin Shaye). Elise turns out to be some sort of paranormal expert and psychic. Desperate to find a solution to their haunting problem they enlist the aid of Elise and her team of geeks. Her research determines that Dalton has the ability of astral projection which he inherited from his father. Dad has blocked this part of his past from his memory and so all of this is a surprise to him. It seems that poor Dalton has wandered into a dark and scary place called The Further. This place is populated by soulless beings and demons intent to find a body to inhabit (like Dalton’s!). The trouble is that it supposedly takes quite a long time before a body can be taken over and so Dalton in being held in The Further and is unable to find his way home.

The  balance of the film involves the families’ attempts to rescue Dalton and leave the evil rubbish happily at home in The Further. I was grateful that there were enough new ideas and plot twists to move this effort above the The Amityville Horror ilk of theatrical offerings. I was actually pleased to have seen this movie despite all of the negative publicity and bad reviews associated with it.

One final point, if I may. Never, ever assume that the movie is over “until the fat lady sings”! (please, no offense to the “poundage” impaired). In short, remained seated until the final credits roll. Oh my, shocking and a little trite.

Rated – PG113 -

Fatwayne’s Rating

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