Insidious is...

Insidious

The commercials for “Insidious” pose the question “Insidious is?” It is a great question because about 2 days after I saw it, I still wonder what it was I just saw. Made by the creators of “Saw” and produced by the director of the great “Paranormal Activity” I can see the love of horror movies James Wan, Leigh Whannel and Oren Peli have. It harkens back to the 1970’s when the idea of a psychedelic and psychological thriller merged to create horror movies so effective and scary that they reduced the audience to tears or caused people to run from the theater in fear. I can see this movie working in the time when Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Suspiria.

It starts innocently enough with a family waking up to start their day unpacking in their new home. Renai (Rose Byrne) idly looks through a photo album and her young son Dalton comes and they look through it together. They mention the fact that father Josh (Patrick Wilson) seems to not have any pictures of himself as a child. That small detail is put away for later and as a viewer it can be easily overlooked. Soon the day’s activities take over and Renai is left alone. What makes this movie effective is that even in times of calm for the family, we as viewers are scared for what is to come. It creates an atmosphere of fear. Normal family activity is tense and you cannot see what is around the corner.

Soon after this Dalton falls while in the attic and when he doesn’t wake in the morning, you wonder what happened in the attic. Was he attacked? Did he fall and hit his head? We don’t know and in fact the doctors cannot find one reason why this happened. He is just not there. The family home becomes a prison that Josh wants to avoid and Renai cannot escape. If you ever wanted to know how to put a feeding tube in your 8 year old son, this movie will show you. As ghosts terrify Renai, Josh and the audience is left to wonder if Renai is going insane. 

It is eventually confirmed that the family is indeed being haunted by ghosts and demons who all want to use Dalton to return to earth. I was reminded of the horror I felt at the twins in Kubrick’s The Shining when a pair of twins show up with the widest of grins on their faces and the small child dancing happily through the house to Tiny Tim’s “Tiptoe through the Tulips”. I love it when a movie can take what seems to be an innocuous song and create a mood in a movie with it. In Insidious, the mood is “This is creeping me right the f*ck out!”

I love horror movies for the emotions they bring out in me. Sometimes it is laughter. Sometimes it is fear and in times when I can stand it, it is pure and unadulterated horror. I know that some of you will tell me that horror is the same thing as fear. I’m talking about moments when I feel like the girl in the ring, sitting in her closet. Insidious brought out the horror in horror movies. As a PG-13 movie, I wonder if I would like my 13 year old son or daughter seeing this movie. I’m not someone who wants to shelter any kids I have but I think a movie like this can wait until they can drive. 

Insidious is... an effective and scary horror movie. Insidious is... a movie so scary that my friend Katy who likes to laugh at me when I turn to her and say “I’m escared” simply nodded in agreement and pressed herself further into her seat. Insidious is... something that brings you back to the days when horror movies intended to horrify you. Insidious is... the best horror movie I’ve seen in a long time. You simply need to know that this movie stays with you and infects your mind. Gotta love that. 

Mr. Unhappy Sez: The family unit is only as strong as the coma patient who brings the demons to your house.

Some other films which give you that creeped the hell out feeling.

The Ring

The Ring is one of those movies that comes along and you don’t think much of and then you sit back to enjoy the cheesiness of a “horror” movie and then you end up scared out of your mind for the rest of the night. I’ve never wanted to watch a underground video since. The movie is about a woman who comes across a story about a videotape (damn it doesn’t seem like it was that long ago but videotape...yeeesh) that when you watch it begins the clock on your death. Seven days later you die. The brilliance of the ring is the backstory and again the vibe it creates in the viewer. You are scared to believe in the tape but are not entirely convinced that your number is up in seven days. It invades your mind. When the little girl crawls through a TV, you better believe you jump.

Mr. Unhappy sez: Come on, watch the tape. What’s the worst that can happen.

Last House on The Left

This movie falls into a category of a movie that moves and frightens you because of how real it seems to be. A man takes his wife and teenage daughter to their lake house and lets his daughter go to town to visit a friend. All seems like it is fine. The friend and daughter smoke pot with a guy they meet and then the movie’s tone changes. She is raped, beaten and left for dead and her friend is killed outright. Unfortunately the killers car is disabled and they need to find a friendly home to call for a tow. They happen to stumble across the daughter’s parents lake house. Bad news for them. This movie is a revenge tale about a father who gets his hand on the people that raped and nearly killed his daughter. It is a parent of a murdered teens wet dream. You don’t need to like it but it certainly messes with your mind. There are two versions of this movie. One created by a young Wes Craven  and a more modern retelling. While you can always see the new version, the old version seems raw and tends to stick with you more. I've seen them both and  can say that the new and old version both tell the same story in a different way. Both are disturbing and sometimes hard to watch but both scratch that nerve that makes you tingle.

Mr. Unhappy sez:  A man will protect his family and if you intend to injure or harm someone make sure you know where the family lives.

The Blair Witch Project

I remember when this movie came out that I went to see it before I had to work one day. I brought my uniform with me and by the end of the movie I was kneading my work shirt in my hands and could barely concentrate on work that night. The movie has been lampooned and beaten up as of late but I will still stand by my original thought. This is one scary ass movie. It involves 3 college students filming a movie on the Blair Witch. The first of the “found footage” films, the crew soon becomes stranded in the black forest hills and cannot find there way back. They are harassed by someone or something and keep finding cryptic clues that the stories they are investigating are true. Insanity and desperation bleed from the screen. When Heather sits with her face filling the screen and cries her apology to whoever finds this, you feel both her helplessness and her weariness at the prospect of spending one more night in the woods. The end comes fast and gives you no answers. In the end, you just sit there and wonder “Why was Mike standing in the corner?”

Mr. Unhappy Sez: There is a simple reason Mr. Unhappy doesn’t go wandering in secluded and vast woods and this movie is that reason.