Film Review: "Insidious: Chapter 3" (2015).

"The darkest chapter goes back to the beginning." This is Insidious: Chapter 3. This supernatural horror film written and directed by Leigh Whannell, in his directorial debut. The film is a prequel to Insidious (2010) and Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013), and the third installment in the Insidious franchise. The film centres on Quinn, a young girl, who reaches out to a powerful psychic to help her contact her recently-deceased mother. But the plan backfires when an evil spirit makes Quinn a host and hurts her physically.

Prior to the release of Insidious: Chapter 2, producer Jason Blum has said that he, James Wan, and Whannell were already preparing for the third installment. In mid September 2013, a third installment in the Insidious series was announced, with Whannell to pen the script, and Blum and Wan set to produce. In early March 2014, it was reported that the film would not focus on the Lamberts, but on a new family and story, and would not connect to the last scene in the second film. It was also reported that both Whannell, Angus Sampson, and Lin Shaye would return to reprise their roles as ghost hunters Specs, Tucker, and Elise respectively. In early May, Wan confirmed that Whannell would direct the film. In June 2014, Stefanie Scott and Dermot Mulroney were cast in the film. By early July, Hayley Kiyoko, Ele Keats, and Joseph Bishara rounded out the film's cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and wrapped in late August. Filming took place in Los Angeles, California. Initially, the film was set for an April 3, 2015 release date, but was pushed back to a May 29 release date.

The film stars Mulroney, Scott, Kiyoko, Keats, Bishara, Sampson, Whannell, and Shaye. Due to film's tediously lame dialogue, self-conscious performances and frequently predictable scares, the narrative's compulsively shifting chronology intermittently manages to engage, although it does little to obscure the distracting shortcomings of both plot and character development. The characters in the film speak with the first-draft expository bluntness of a cheap '50s thriller, letting the characters step on some of the best reveals.

Like Chapter 2, Insidious: Chapter 3 is decidedly short on the tension and surprises that made its predecessor so chilling. But the scares were mostly scary indeed, and that means the film does its job. This is thanks to the artfully eerie cinematography of Brian Pearson, and the pervasively unsettling atmosphere constructed by sound designer Martyn Zub. Where so many sequels and prequels seem like mere remakes of their predecessors, with bigger budgets and less imagination, this film feels like a genuine continuation of characters we enjoyed getting to know the first time around, and wouldn't at all mind returning to again. After the pleasurable free fall into old-fashioned nightmare artistry that was 2010's Insidious, this busy-yet-dull prequel feels like Whannell robotically flexing his manipulation of fright-film signposts, an exercise more silly than sinister. The film isn't as honestly terrifying as the original, but it rates as okay horror fun.

Simon says Insidious: Chapter 3 receives:

Also, see my review for Insidious: Chapter 2.