By: debbie lynn elias
When we last saw the Lambert family, courtesy of their creators director James Wan and his co-writer Leigh Whannell, they had cleaned up at the box office, established themselves as THE number one family plagued by the horrors of the supernatural kind and left us begging for more. After all, once you have a connection to “The Further”, it’s not likely you’ll lose it; especially with a rabid public to appease.
Picking up where “Insidious” left off, Josh Lambert has brought his son Dalton back from “The Further.” His family is now safe (allegedly), he has come to terms with his spirit world connection and the not-so-nice connections he seems to make, and he together with wife Renai and their three kids have moved back in to the creepiest house on the block with his mother, Lorraine. But all is not quiet in the extended Lambert family home as things immediately start to go bump in the night, er, play music, Dalton sees ghouls and skeletons and frightening things that more appropriately belong in “The Further” and Josh, well, Josh looks and acts like he’s losing his mind. Just exactly what did he bring back from “The Further” with Dalton. And so the terror begins.
Once again calling on the services of psychic Elise (herself now a supernatural resident thanks to some untoward activities from “The Further”), Renai and Lorraine are determined to find out once again what’s happening. Is the house itself haunted or is it being haunted? With flashbacks at the ready, we go back in time with the Lamberts to when Josh was a little boy and first encountered “The Further.” Thanks to Elise and her assistant Carl, Josh’s visions and “powers” were bound back then and he was made to forget, until Dalton’s untimely capture. With Elise now gone and in desperate need of answers, they have only one link to the spirit world – Carl. Joining Carl are Elise’s present-day right-hand ghost hunters, Specs and Tucker.
With the real life world and the plane of existence of “The Further intertwining and history and murder playing into the hand, INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 2 takes us where no man wants to go – back into “The Further” to see what really happened when Josh went in to save Dalton.
Although not as jump-out-of-your-skin as “Insidious”, INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 2 has the added touch of an inherent humor that comes with Patrick Wilson’s performance as Josh Lambert. Wilson not only nails the duality of Josh’s now persona, but he then denigrates more into demonic evil as the film progresses. And going hand in hand with his performance is the outstanding make-up job as we see his facial features become more “ghoulish” as he becomes more raked with evil….. Very very cool and Wilson just relishes every look, every nuance, every scare.
What is not to love about Barbara Hershey? Returning as Lorraine, this go-round the most apt description for her performance is kick-ass. Between she and Helen Mirren, they are proof that AARP-ers are far from over-the-hill! Hershey brings a maternal intensity and strength that rivals that of a lion protecting her cubs. Adding fuel to Hershey’s performance is Whannell’s script which grounds the character as being intelligently written with a calm, inquisitive, pragmatic thought process.
Rose Byrne delivers another comfortable performance as beleaguered wife and mother, Renai, while Ty Simpkins steps up his performance another notch as young Dalton.
The real character and performance joys, however, come from Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson as ghost-hunters, Specs and Tucker, not to mention another superb performance by Lin Shaye as Elise. Whannell’s performance as Specs is again, entertaining and fun, infusing adventure with a scaredy cat edge and together with Sampson delivers some real laugh-out-loud funny comic relief. And I can never get enough of Lin Shaye. No matter what she does, she always brings believability to the role and reprising her role as Elise is no different. But applause, applause to director Wan with his casting of the younger Elise. Lindsay Seim is a dead ringer for a young Shaye, which leads me to note and commend Wan for dubbing the voices of the older actors – Shaye and Hershey – over their younger counterparts. Very nice touch and adds to the continuity. Not to be overlooked is Steve Coulter who adds a serious and touching note as Carl.
Intelligent writing is one of my favorite aspects of INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 2. The historical haunting methodology and simple dice as a means of contact with the dead – nothing is gratuitous. Characters are fully fleshed out – even the dead ones – with each serving a specific purpose and concurrently being integral to the story as a whole. The twists and turns that Wan and Whannell take are surprising and refreshingly twisted so that for many of the twists, you don’t see them coming. Nice wrap around with the first installment and the character of Josh as a child and as an adult. However, having said that, given my love of scares and true fright in films, I would have liked to see some more hair raising frights and moments of true terror. INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 2 is taken down a notch from the original, to the film’s detriment. Ti West fell into this same trap with “The Innkeepers” as the frights were toned down exponentially from “House of the Devil.” Keep it scary boys!!!
Call me crazy but a real standout for me with INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 2 is that we finally have a horror/thriller where people actually turn the damn lights on when they hear things go bump in the night and before they go exploring into dark rooms! Finally, something that makes sense that each of us would do at home when we hear noises!
Jennifer Spence’s production design is exemplary. Returning to the same house, Lorraine’s, with same décor and furnishings keeps the flow of the story going. Makes one feel as if they are part of the Lambert lives and not just a spectator. We know the living room and the kitchen. Dark woods and often umber toned lighting within the house, particularly at night, is not off-putting or frightening, but just the opposite – warm and inviting. The standout design, however, are Elise’s Reading Room which is actually quite beautiful with vintage lighting, furnishings and steeped in deep crimsons, burgundies and reds – reds are not “bright” but warm and aged. Also wonderful is the design of the vacant hospital and the Crane house – especially the beautiful light, bright, pink girly bedroom in flashback. The visual contrast of design in this film adds so much texture to the tapestried tale.
Complimenting the production design is the cinematographic tonal bandwidth from varied lighting to individual shot framing. John Leonetti and Wan draw your eye to specific focus thanks to judicious use of doorways, stairwells, BUT, then they step out of the box and while you’re eye is trained on one focal point, toss in something in the fringes of almost negative space that captures your peripheral vision for just a moment – but that moment plants a seed that comes into main focus later in the film.
INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 2 is an insidious delight. Bring on Chapter 3!
Directed by James Wan
Written by Leigh Whannell and James Wan
Cast: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, Ty Simpkins, Lin Shaye, Steve Coulter, Leigh Whannell
