(Download Insidious: Chapter 2) With the Insidious films and this summer’s terrific The Conjuring, Wan almost seems as if he’s trying to impose a course correction. All of them rely on old-fashioned spooksmanship and filmmaking precision, the ability to summon up scares by placing the camera just so and creeping through darkened hallways and up to ominous-looking closets at just the right pace to give viewers the willies. (And, as science has shown, set hearts racing.)
(Download Insidious: Chapter 2) After a flashback that reveals protagonist Josh Lambert had some dealings with the supernatural as a child, the film picks up where the first Insidious left off, with the adult Josh (Patrick Wilson) in custody for the mysterious death of ghost hunter Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye), and his wife Renai being questioned by the police about the event. With no proof of Josh’s involvement, the police let the Lambert family go, and they settle into a creepy old Victorian that’s been in Josh’s family for generations. With some help from Josh’s mother Lorraine (Barbara Hershey) they attempt to resume their old lives, but it seems as if the spirits are a little less eager to resume their old afterlives. Also still in the picture: Elise’s ghost-hunting pals Tucker (Angus Sampson) and Specs (Whannell, who has written a fun role for himself again).
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Download Insidious: Chapter 2) Could all this have something to do with Josh’s childhood encounters with the beyond? Or possibly a serial killer with a fondness for scaring from beyond the grave? The answer is “yes,” but those aren’t really the right questions. The right question is whether Wan can match or top the scares of the first Insidious. That’s also a “yes.”
