Insidious: The Red Door (2023) Review!!

Synopsis – Ten years after the Lamberts first fell victim to the Further’s malignant spirits. Dalton is getting ready for college, and the family is confident nothing else could go wrong. Unfortunately, the boy is once more targeted by demons and apparitions, forcing the Lamberts to return to the Further one last time and close the door which makes Dalton’s body a portal to the beyond.

My Take – Released in 2010, the James Wan (The Conjuring) directed and Leigh Whannell (The Invisible Man) written “Insidious”, managed to be a genuinely scary horror offering with a truly great atmosphere and a constant, creeping sense of dread that something terrible is about happen any minute. Scaring up $100 million worldwide on a $1.5 million budget, a new franchise was indeed born.

But, like almost every other horror franchise, it failed to make good on any of the unnerving potential with its follow-ups going forward. As each subsequent film went on to earn less favorable reviews from both the critics and audiences. With particularly its fourth entry, Insidious: The Last Key, proving that the franchise had run its course.

However, this fifth entry carried a supposition, mainly because it returned to the Lambert family, of the first two chapters, to close the door on their saga with The Further. Add to that it sees star Patrick Wilson pulling double duty in his directorial debut, the film seemed like a tender send-off. Unfortunately, despite that precis it ends up offering nothing new to the franchise.

Written by Scott Teems (Halloween Kills) and based on a story by Leigh Whannell, the film no doubt does a fine job with the character beats of these tortured souls, yet it never hits the heights of terror that the franchise has proven to be capable of. Making it an unfortunate misstep that offers little in the way of horror or entertainment.

It’s an underwhelming sequel that pales in comparison to the franchise’s earlier successes. Low on big scares, the film intelligently decides not to reinvent the wheel, and instead builds up the fear slowly, sometimes a trifle too slowly.

Going into the finale, there’s only a woolly sense of what needs to be done and what exactly is tormenting our heroes, which can’t help but puncture the menace. Plus, it is so intrinsically tied to previous installments that it becomes almost entirely inaccessible to newcomers.

The story once again follows the Lambert family and takes place nine years after the event of Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013), which in the end saw the family decides to suppress the memories of both Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson) and Dalton Lambert (Ty Simpkins), to prevent future astral projection wandering into the Further, closing the door on pervading entities hoping to cross into the real world.

Unfortunately, harboring secrets of this magnitude hasn’t been kind to the Lambert family. Josh and his wife, Renai (Rose Byrne), are now separated, and after having lost his mother, Josh is having a tough time trying to reconnect with his now 18-year-old artist son, who is distant and barely opens up to him. With their relationship further straining following their drive to Dalton’s college.

However, when Dalton follows a charismatic teacher’s instructions to go deep into his subconscious, he discovers memories of a strange door that threatens to destabilize his mental health. Across the country, Josh is also experiencing his own nightmares, and is forced to delve into his own past to confront this familiar threat.

Without a doubt Patrick Wilson‘s extensive experience in horror films (including The Conjuring franchise) gave him insight on how to craft atmosphere. He also finds comic beats to leaven the scares, particularly in some amusingly lame frat party scenes. However, the problem is the choppy storytelling. It’s just that the script too often falls upon stilted, unnatural dialogue and is paced without a sense of progression, and it makes this film a lot less effective and memorable than it could have been with the many good ideas on display.

For example, neither Josh nor Dalton have any new powers, nor do they see anything new or face any new challenges. It’s basically the same story as the first two Insidious films, except that instead of not knowing what is going on because it is new, they don’t know what is going on because they don’t remember.

Sure, the narrative deftly incorporates the Astral Projectionist Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) and the Professional Paranormal Investigators, Specs (Leigh Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Sampson), into the plot. But, the narrative with by-the-number horror sequences appears forced and so disjointed till the mid-point that it is difficult to enjoy the film. The erosion of family bonds and the burden of suppressed memories are hardly groundbreaking themes, and the film’s attempts to mine trauma fall flat.

It’s like watching a tired therapy session unfold on screen, complete with daddy issues and a paint-by-numbers exploration of the past. Dalton’s newly forged friendship with roommate Chris (Sinclair Daniel) breathes life into this more somber feature most of all. Daniel’s lively, more assertive personality brings levity when necessary and helps flesh out Dalton beyond his reserved, aloof artist persona.

Conversely, Josh’s past offers little more than a few scares and drawn out questions. While the series has always offered a peek into the world of astral projection and its impact on reality, the fails to capitalize on its most intriguing elements. Instead, it meanders through supernatural phenomena, as if lost in the Further itself.

There is only one scene that manages to elicit a genuine scare. Josh’s MRI session, with a demon slithering around his head in the darkness, is the sole moment that demonstrates fantastic build-up and a perfectly timed scare. Sadly, it’s a fleeting moment in a sea of mediocrity and the film relies too heavily on arbitrary attempts to frighten the audience.

Maybe with a better script, Wilson‘s directorial talents could have shone through. Unfortunately, the film feels like a three-hour ordeal crammed into a less-than-two-hour runtime, a cardinal sin in the horror genre.

On the performance front, Patrick Wilson is still likable and Ty Simpkins delivers a robust act of playing the sullen and troubled teen. The newest addition, Sinclair Daniel offers the much needed comic relief to the otherwise staid narrative. Sadly, Rose Byrne has hardly anything to do here, while Lin Shaye makes more of a throwaway cameo. In smaller roles, Hiam Abbass and Ty Simpkins are effective. On the whole, ‘Insidious: The Red Door ‘ is an insipid horror sequel that fails to deliver on its promises.