leigh whannell – Horror Ghouls

Insidious: The Red Door (2023)

Posted on July 21, 2023August 4, 2023 by HorrorGhouls

It’s now been nine years since the Lambert family had their paranormal troubles and decided to use hypnosis on Josh and Dalton so they could forget about everything and try to live normal lives. Now Josh is divorced from his wife Renai, his mother Lorraine has recently died, and his relationship with Dalton has gone down the gutter. In other words, nine years later things aren’t exactly that great. Josh tries to bond a little with his son when driving him off to college, but everything just ends with a fiery argument instead. And of course, both Josh and Dalton start to experience paranormal things again, and after Dalton accidentally starts wandering into The Further, not really knowing what he’s doing and oblivious of his astral projection abilities, his roommate shows him a YouTube clip of Specs and Tucker talking about the theme. And when Dalton sees a clip of Elise talking about The Further, everything starts to slowly unveil.

Insidious: The Red Door is the fifth installment of the Insidious franchise, and it’s directed by Patrick Wilson (who plays the role as Josh in the movies) in his directorial debut. It is a direct sequel to the second film in the franchise, Insidious: Chapter 2, which was released in 2013. James Wan serves as producer together with Jason Blum, and it’s based on a story by Leigh Whannell and Scott Teems. The movie has received rather mixed reviews, and honestly, this one feels like the weakest installment and unfortunately comes off as very sparse with actual scares, which have been replaced with awkward college-themed humour, family drama, and trauma issues. There’s some really cringey scenes at a party featuring a dude dressed up in diapers, maybe the youngsters found this hilarious and a comic relief but I guess I’m too old for such shit. Still, I have to add that the movie does have some nice ideas though, like the college part of The Further which includes the puking ghost of a student that died at the frat house, and the scene in the MRI has a really good build-up and was solidly made.

Now, every movie in the franchise have offered us some demonic baddies of various kinds, and what was missing here is the focus on some villainous entity like in the previous movies. There’s the Lipstick-Face demon, but we barely get to see him. I think it could have redeemed the movie a bit if we actually got to see more of this main villain in the series, and his theater-like room with marionettes and a gramophone playing Tiptoe through the Tulips by Tiny Tim. Speaking of which, when we actually get to this area later in the movie, and the gramophone starts playing, I got in the mood for that exact song to relive some of the feeling of the first movie…but instead a different song started playing. And while Tiptoe Through the Tulips could be heard a little while later, I’d found myself already thrown off the mood. The Lipstick-Face demon scenes were used too sparsely to have much payoff, unfortunately.

With a budget of $16 million, it’s now looking at a worldwide gross of $126 million, which does make Insidious: The Red Door a financial success at least. But whether this is the final nail in the Insidious coffin and having the red door locked up for good, remains to be seen. If you’re a fan of the franchise and would like to see the (probable) end of the story, it’s likely worth a watch, and if you’ve been watching the previous movies and noticed the gradual decline, it won’t come as much of a surprise that this last installment isn’t exactly a masterpiece. As a directorial debut from Patrick Wilson it’s not all that bad, but it’s unfortunate that the franchise had already come to the point where it’s outstayed its welcome, and with nothing new or exciting to add it fell a bit flat. It’s nice to have seen it if you want the conclusion to the franchise, but overall this one’s probably more fun for the younger audience (who sat screaming, gasping and jumping in the seats when we watched it).

Director: Patrick Wilson
Writers: Leigh Whannell, Scott Teems
Country & year: USA, Canada, 2023
Actors: Ty Simpkins, Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Sinclair Daniel, Hiam Abbass, Andrew Astor, Juliana Davies, Steve Coulter, Peter Dager, Justin Sturgis, Joseph Bishara
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt13405778/

Insidious: The Last Key (2018)

Posted on July 18, 2023July 21, 2023 by HorrorGhouls

The year is 1953, and we meet Elise Rainier as a kid. She lives in Five Keys, New Mexico, with her parents and younger brother. One night, Elise and her brother encounter a ghost in their own bedroom, and their abusive father won’t have any of that superstitious bullshit, so he canes Elise and locks her down in the basement. There, Elise finds a red doorway and ends up getting possessed by a demonic spirit, and this demon kills her mother. After this brief introduction into a part of Elise’s rather messed up childhood, we travel decades forwards in time and end up in California in 2010, where Elise is working as a paranormal investigator together with her colleagues Specs and Tucker. She gets a call from a man named Ted Garza, saying he’s experiencing paranormal events in his house. When Elise realizes that the house he’s living in is her childhood home, she travels there in order to help this man. And back at this place, she is not only revisiting old bad memories, but also the demon that killed her mother which is known as Keyface.

Insidious: The Last Key is the fourth installment in this supernatural horror film franchise. It’s yet again written by Leigh Whannell, and this time it’s directed by Adam Robitel (who earlier directed The Taking of Deborah Logan and later Escape Room). Just like the third film, the story is focusing on Elise and her paranormal investigator group, and it’s no doubt that Lin Shaye’s performance as Elise is what holds the majority of the move up. Once again we’re presented to a big bad demon villain, this time in the form of Keyface whose fingers transform into keys. But aside from the demon itself, Elise’s childhood was also plagued by a parent who’d rather beat you instead of supporting and helping you, plus there’s a little bit of serial killer mystery thrown in for good measure. There’s also the comic relief from Elise’s two companions, Specs and Tucker, who pretty much come off as immature dolts for most of the time.

While we get a further glimpse into the characters and especially Elise, since the story here is about her own past, it’s unfortunately become a little evident that the franchise is about to run out of steam. While there are enough creepy atmosphere and ideas to hold it up, you can’t help but feeling that it’s been a gradual albeit not dramatic decline since the first movie. Now, of course this is normal in most franchises, so in the whole it’s still been going relatively strong all things considered. Also, in this movie everything ties up to the first story, which is nice as it gives a certain hope that they’ll conclude the series sooner than later rather than continue creating sequel-prequels until the whole franchise would end up totally watered out. Insidious: The Last Key is by no means a bad movie, though, and has enough effective scenes to be enjoyable enough, but I’d say the movie is mostly one for fans of the franchise.

Director: Adam Robitel
Writer: Leigh Whannell
Country & year: USA, Canada, 2018
Actors: Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Kirk Acevedo, Caitlin Gerard, Spencer Locke, Josh Stewart, Tessa Ferrer, Aleque Reid, Ava Kolker, Pierce Pope, Bruce Davison
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt5726086/

Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015)

Posted on July 14, 2023July 21, 2023 by HorrorGhouls

The story takes place three years before the case with the Lambert haunting, and the demonologist Elise Rainier has retired. She is contacted by a teenage girl, Quinn, who wants to contact her deceased mother who died a year ago. Reluctantly, Elise agrees, but after sensing a malevolent force she urges Quinn not to try contacting her mother again. Later, Quinn sees a strange figure waving at her from some distance in the middle of the street, and while distracted by this mysterious person, she walks out on the street and gets hit by a car, and ends up in the hospital with both legs broken. Afterwards, she’s stuck at home with her father and brother, and while disabled and vulnerable she starts experiencing paranormal activities, which includes visions of a malicious spirit wearing an oxygen mask. When things start escalating, her father contacts Elise, hoping she can help his daughter from whatever seems to be after her.

Insidious: Chapter 3 is the third installment in the Insidious franchise, and is both written and directed by Leigh Whannell in his directorial debut. The film is a prequel to the first films. While taking us out of the main story of the Lambert family, and instead shift the focus over to Elise and her companions Specs and Tucker, it makes for some new ideas and new characters. Having a disabled girl at the mercy of a dangerous entity makes for some really tense scenes lead by good setup and acting, which are all well utilized in making us feel the girl’s despair and helplessness while being stalked and tortured. There’s a lot of creepy atmosphere and genuine chills here, and with a new entity simply referred to as “the man that can’t breathe” the franchise manages to create yet another villain who, while not quite as iconic as the Lipstick-Face Demon and the Black Bride, works pretty well and is distinguishable and frightening.

While the first two movies had to be viewed consecutively in order to get the best viewing experience (otherwise, the second film would just feel confusing as it directly continues the story from the first), this movie actually stands well alone on its own feet and doesn’t even require any knowledge of the first two in order to properly enjoy it. That being said, I’d still recommend watching them consecutively, as knowing a bit more about Elise and her companions is likely to heighten the investment in the story.

Insidious: Chapter 3 is solid third installment in the franchise, with further looks into The Further, creepy-looking ghoulish entities and the overall eerie atmosphere the movies are known for. While neither of the two sequels have been on par with the first movie, they’re still fairly good and at this stage the franchise is yet to have worn out its welcome.

Writer and director: Leigh Whannell
Country & year: USA, Canada, UK, 2013
Actors: Dermot Mulroney, Stefanie Scott, Angus Sampson, Leigh Whannell, Lin Shaye, Tate Berney, Michael Reid MacKay, Steve Coulter, Hayley Kiyoko, Corbett Tuck, Tom Fitzpatrick
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3195644/

Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)

Posted on July 11, 2023July 21, 2023 by HorrorGhouls

The year is 1986, and the demonologist Elise Rainier is called to help Lorraine Lambert and her son Josh, who is being hunted by an evil spirit in the form of a black bride. Apparently, Josh has been using his astral projection abilities, and thus gotten the spirit’s attention. Elise says his abilities must be suppressed, and manages to plant altered memories in his brain so he can forget about it all and live a normal life. Now, twenty five years later, Josh and his wife Renai are being questioned after the death of Elise, where Josh is considered the prime suspect of her murder. Renai and their children relocate to Lorraine’s house, and paranormal events continue to happen all around them. A woman in a white dress is giving Dalton nightmares, and she also manifests and attacks Renai. Elise’s former associates, Specs and Tucker, attempts to contact Elise’s spirit and are told that they need to find answers at an abandoned hospital where Lorraine once used to work. Soon, the mystery of the black bride and the woman in the white dress starts to unravel.

Insidious: Chapter 2 is the second installment to Insidious from 2010, and is a direct sequel from the first one. Of course, after the success of the first there was bound to be more movies which would later spawn a franchise. This one is also directed by James Wan, and written by Leigh Whannell. The film was promoted in different ways, the first theatrical trailer for the film was actually screened to a live audience on location at the Linda Vista Community Hospital (where the hospital scenes in the movie were filmed), and a maze attraction called “Insidious: Into the Further” was featured in 2013’s Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood.

Now, as this is a direct sequel to the first movie, compared to the first it’s not quite as effective in its scares and lacks the same tension, but there are some good things to find and we get to know a bit more about one of the villains presented in the first movie. The setting is spooky, and some of the scenes are filled with that good, eerie atmosphere. The backstory of the creepy “black bride” is what mainly fuels the story here, which proves to be an interesting character with both a tragic and horrific background. The movie also focus a bit more on explaining some of the things that happened in the first movie, which makes consecutive viewing mandatory in order to get the best experience.

Aside from spooky settings in creepy houses and an old hospital, we do of course get further glimpses into the netherworld-like area The Further, which is arguably the franchise’s best selling point. While there are loads of depictions of otherworldly dimensions seen in both other movies and TV series, there is just something fascinating about The Further’s somewhat simplistic take on it. It’s surreal and dreamy, vast, dark and for the most part appears to be rather empty. It’s like one of those surreal horror exploration games where the seemingly apparent emptiness still holds both dangerous and fascinating things hidden away in a corner here and there, if you manage to find it.

Overall, Insidious: Chapter 2 works well as a sequel to the successful first film, not on par with the first but still a creepy and decent supernatural horror flick.

Director: James Wan
Writers: Leigh Whannell, James Wan
Country & year: USA, Canada, 2013
Actors: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Ty Simpkins, Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Barbara Hershey, Andrew Astor, Joseph Bishara, Philip Friedman
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2226417/

Insidious (2010)

Posted on July 7, 2023July 21, 2023 by HorrorGhouls

Renai and Josh are a married couple with two sons, Dalton and Foster, and an infant daughter named Cali. They move into their new home, and there things quickly ends with disaster: after Dalton sneaks into the attic one evening, he inexplicably slips into a coma. The days, weeks and months passes by, with no sign of Dalton waking up. Despairing while trying to keep their hopes up, they take their son back home from the hospital to care for him there, and then they start experiencing frightening things that appear to be paranormal. Everything reaches its peak when Renai finds a bloody inhuman-looking handprint on the sheet of Dalton’s bed. Convinced that their house is haunted, they decide to move, only to find that the paranormal activity continues to happen in their new home as well. Sometimes, it’s not the house that’s haunted…

Insidious is a supernatural horror film from 2010, directed by James Wan and written by Leigh Whannell. James Wan previously got his foot into the horror genre with his Saw film from 2004, a film which he admitted being very proud of, but he also felt all the violence and gore put some people off from working with him. Thus, he decided to make Insidious to prove that he could also make a horror movie that is not focused on violence. Although he did, actually, make another horror movie called Dead Silence in 2007, but this was a largely overlooked film and received rather poor reception, which is a shame, because it’s not that bad. However, you can get a little idea of how this movie harbours a “could’ve been” scenario, as screenwriter Whannell revealed in a blog post that the film was an “extreme, coal-face lesson in what not to do“, where he talks about the origins of the film within the context of the Hollywood film industry, where they had to play by the rules of agents and script-doctors. Insidious was made independently, which probably saved the movie from Hollywood’s meddlesome and destructive claws.

The movie starts off with seeming like your typical haunted house movie, and there’s enough atmosphere and creepy, subtle scenes that gradually builds in an insidious way. So yeah, there you have it, the title pretty much explains the movie’s progression (although it was originally planned to be called something else. More about that later). There are more than a few truly effective scenes that actually manages to deliver a scare, and expertly used angles, color and music achieves the perfect mood. The music score was composed by Joseph Bishara, who also plays the demon in the movie. They wanted to go for a score with mixing some “weird piano bangs” and “scratchy violin”, and there were a total of thirty-three violins used for the theme music. Wow.

Going from the subtlety of the classical haunted-house vibe, the movie veers and jumps straight into the rabbit hole when “The Further” is introduced, with the medium Elise (Lin Shaye). This is some kind of dimension that houses the souls of the damned, and appears trippy as hell. Originally, the movie was actually planned to be called The Further too, but it almost goes without saying that Insidious is a way better choice of title. This dimension/heaven-hell-limbo or whatever one should call it, leaves a lot to be explained, but the mystery of what it is exactly is pretty much what is needed to make it work. It gives the movie a mystery and that extra flavour of something of its own, saving it from ending up as a typical derivative effort in the haunted house category. It adds a demonic and otherworldly element into the mix, and there’s a certain balance here between the serious paranormal parts and the spookily fun horror parts, which could have ended up as a disaster had it been made by the wrong people (or with any Hollywood interference) but instead ended up as gold since it was made by the right ones in the way they wanted the movie to be. It’s both scary, creepy and slightly amusing. Watching a ghost boy dancing to Tiny Tim’s version of “Tiptoe Through The Tulips” adds both an outlandish and uncanny feeling for sure!

Insidious became very much a success, and apparently filled a vacuum of sorts for supernatural horror movies that actually manage to come off as scary for a lot of people. It also includes some quite distinctive characters among the entities/demons, giving us actual recognizable villains for a change. The success not only gave enough fuel for more sequels/prequels, but also other franchises like The Conjuring and Annabelle. In the Insidious franchise, we are looking at a total of 5 films so far with the newest one being shown in theaters across the world at the moment.

Director: James Wan
Writer: Leigh Whannell
Country & year: USA, Canada, 2010
Actors: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Ty Simpkins, Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Barbara Hershey, Andrew Astor, Joseph Bishara, Philip Friedman
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1591095/

Dead Silence (2007)

Posted on May 13, 2022July 11, 2023 by HorrorGhouls

Jamie and Lisa are a married couple that one day receive a gift from an anonymous person: a box that includes a ventriloquist doll that is called Billy. When Jamie is out getting some take-away food, his pregnant wife is attacked by an entity that not only causes her to have a miscarriage, but literally rips her tongue out as well. Jamie is immediately suspected for having something to do with his wife’s gruesome murder, but he is soon released from custody due to lack of evidence. When he comes home, he inspects the mysterious gift and sees a message about some called “Mary Shaw”: a ventriloquist that lived in Raven’s Fair, Jamie’s hometown. He decides to visit the old town where he grew up, which is now looking dilapidated and forlorn. He visits his estranged wheelchair-bound father, who has now remarried to a much younger woman. When trying to find out more about Mary Shaw, the doll Billy, and the secrets of Raven’s Fair, Jamie ends up realizing that there are times when it’s best to keep your lips tightly sealed…

Before James Wan got renowned in the world of horror due to the Insidious and Conjuring franchise, he had previously made another (completely different) type of horror movie: “Saw“. Saw is of course a completely different beast, where that franchise pretty much turned into what could probably be considered (soft) torture porn. However: what few people seem to be aware of, is that Insidious (2010) and Conjuring (2013) were not Wan’s first entries into the supernatural horror genre. Predating them both, Dead Silence was released in 2007. Unfortunately it was a box office failure upon release (some believing it was ahead of its time, as creepy atmospheric ghost horror movies had a higher popularity some years later) but it has later been somewhat re-discovered. While not on par with some of James Wan’s later achievements, it is now considered a solid entry into the supernatural/ghost horror genre.

In the film, you can easily spot James Wan’s distinctiveness all over the place, where you can see the early hints of what to come as he’s now exploring the realm of spirits and creepy, atmospheric settings, while also having a little bit of the Saw-grittyness in it which includes some fairly nasty death scenes. Nothing over-the-top, but enough to blend in with the the rest. There’s a lot to appreciate when it comes to eerie scenery, there’s even an old theatre partly submerged by water from the nearby lake. It’s spooky and gothic, maybe a little cheesy here and there but with enough creepy atmosphere to keep the chills coming.

And, let’s not forget the villain of the movie, the undead ventriloquist Mary Shaw, played by Judith Roberts. As the nursery rhyme from the movie goes: Beware the stare of Mary Shaw. She had no children, only dolls. If you see her in your dreams, be sure you never, ever scream or she’ll rip your tongue out at the seam (and let’s be honest: if you saw someone like her, it would probably be hard not to scream…). She is somewhat reminiscent of “The Bride In Black” from the Insidious franchise, so you could say that Mary Shaw was a prototype of other ghostly villains to come.

Overall, Dead Silence is a horror movie that still holds up well after 15 years, and can easily be seen as a nice prelude to Jame’s Wan’s later films into the supernatural horror genre.

Fun fact: there is actually a little easter-egg during the climax of the movie: among Mary Shaw’s collection of dolls, you can see Jigsaw’s doll (from the “Saw” movies) among them.

Director: James Wan
Writers: Leigh Whannell, James Wan
Country & year: USA, 2007
Actors: Ryan Kwanten, Amber Valletta, Donnie Wahlberg, Michael Fairman, Joan Heney, Bob Gunton, Laura Regan, Dmitry Chepovetsky, Judith Roberts, Keir Gilchrist, Steven Taylor, Steve Adams
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt0455760/

The Invisible Man (2020)

Posted on March 10, 2020February 28, 2022 by HorrorGhouls

Cecilia manages to escape a controlling and abusive relationship, but struggles to overcome the negative impact the experience has had on her life. Still paranoid and afraid her ex will come after her, she suddenly receives the news that he has committed suicide…and that she has been written into his will. With a substantial amount of money to be gradually paid out to her, and knowing her abusive ex is gone from this world, she hopes to re-build her life. However, after experiencing certain horrifying events, she starts to believe that his death was a hoax and that he’s acquired the ability to become invisible, only to terrorize her even further.

The Invisible Man, directed by Leigh Whannell (director of Insidious: Chapter 3, and writer of the previous Insidious movies as well as the first three Saw movies) has revived one of the classic Universal monsters, but in a completely different setting than from the original which was based on the novel by H. G. Wells. Whereas the original Invisible Man wasn’t a bad guy from the get-go, he is here a narcissistic sociopath who is abusive and controlling towards his partner. Thus, the horror the movie portrays feels real, and the first sequence of the movie where Cecilia has drugged him in order to escape the fortress-like home he’s captured her in, is actually one of the most intense movie openings I’ve seen as of late.

While the movie starts quite intense, the feeling of foreboding is quite evident already in the next scenes, where we witness Cecilia trying to get a hold of her own life (barely daring to venture outside of the house she’s staying in). And upon the news of her ex’s so-called suicide, with a substantial amount of money to be paid to her over time (provided she does not commit any crime or is deemed mentally unstable, as per the will – and yeah, you know why this clause was added) she starts to relax a little bit and looks brightly upon her own future for once. Of course, that shifts rather quickly, and when she experiences things that only she is witnessing, she tries to convince those close to her that her ex is still alive, and has made himself invisible. Of course, no one believes her, and she keeps being abused…but since no one except herself is experiencing the abuse, she can’t make anyone believe her. Yes – the analogy here is clear as day.

From there on, the movie takes you on a suspenseful ride, and Elisabeth Moss (who is playing the role of Cecilia) is doing an excellent job on portraying all levels of the torments she’s going through, whether it is being scared out of her mind, desperately trying to fight back, or emotionally crushed by not being believed and the lack of an actual escape from her invisible tormentor. And while we don’t see that much of Adrian aka The Invisible Man, played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen, he actually did manage to show off a few tell-tale signs of the type of character he’s portraying.

The Invisible Man is a movie that might be a bit difficult to watch for people who have experienced abusive relationships, as it’s nailing narcissistic abuse in a way I haven’t seen any other film dare to exploit. It’s all there: making everyone believe their victim is the crazy one, making the victim doubting their own sanity, and especially gaslighting (a tactic used to make victims doubt themselves and their perception of events, by questioning the victim’s memory, accusing them of making things up, denying things that they did towards the victim, and mocking them for “misunderstanding” everything).

Since it does stray pretty far from the original Invisible Man, some people may be put off due to this. I can imagine that putting these two movies apart from each other without doing comparisons, would be beneficial to the viewing experience.

Director: Leigh Whannell
Country & year: Australia | USA | Canada | UK, 2020
Actors: Elisabeth Moss, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Harriet Dyer, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Michael Dorman, Benedict Hardie, Renee Lim, Brian Meegan, Nick Kici, Vivienne Greer, Nicholas Hope, Cleave Williams, Cardwell Lynch, Sam Smith
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt1051906/