Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015) Directed by Leigh Whannell
This is a contemporary horror series that I really enjoy, they are genuinely scary and the acting is always quite solid. When I heard the third one was out for rental, I completely forgot that it was even in the theater at one point. I never really heard much about it when it was in theaters, so I just assumed that it probably sucked. I had the spare time the other night to run to Family Video and rent it. Yes my town still has a video store, I hate redbox, let us get that out of the way. Redbox never seems to have movies older than a year old, so it is kind of annoying for someone that loves older movies.
This is set a few years before the first movie. Elise Rainier the medium from the other two films is reluctant to help a young girl named Quinn, whom believes that her deceased mother Lillith is trying to reach out to her through the spirit world. Elise tries to complete a reading but stops after hearing a demonic presence, that threatens her life. She warns Quinn to stop trying to reach out to her mother. Soon after Quinn begins to hear noises at night and notices some odd occurrences. One day she has an audition for a theater school in New York. Before going onstage, she notices a dark figure waving at her. She blows her audition and blames it on her father and younger brother, and the constant attention she gives to help raise her younger brother. She walks out into the street whilst talking to her friend Maggie, when suddenly a car hits Quinn.
Quinn ends up getting both of her legs broken horrible and is confined to a wheel chair for the time being. Her father puts her in bed and gives her a bell to ring when she needs him. That night she is woken by the sound of the bell ringing by itself. The following night, she hears knocking on her wall, assuming it is her neighbor Hector, she knocks back and he copies her. She texts Hector and he says that he isn’t even home. The odd happenings become more frequent, and each time her dad saves her. The demon becomes more visible as a corpse of a burn victim with a breathing mask, whom makes a rattling noise.
One night the demon comes to Elise, leaving a trail of bloody footprints on the floor and wall. She sees the hideous demon on the ceiling and runs back up stairs from her basement. A few scenes later the demon appears in Quinn’s room, and slowly walks towards her. She gasps and the demon seemingly slides under the bed. Quinn slowly looks under the bed when the demon grabs her and throws her to the floor. She screams and her dad rushes in to check her. A few days pass and at one point the demon brings Quinn up to the upstairs apartment and she sees a faceless, limbless version of herself crawling towards her, again the dad rescues her. A man is lying on the pavement below the window, seemingly committing suicide. Quinn goes to look and she’s pulled through the window, while her dad grabs her and drags her back in. The dad contacts Elise, who enters the spiritual realm aka the further. She finds herself afraid and the spirit of the Bride in Black nearly kills her. She is brought back to the living world scared and refuses to go on. The dad has no choice but to call some paranormal show guys, Specs and Tucker. Meanwhile Elise speaks with her friend Carl who shares her gift to speak to the dead. Carl tells her that she is stronger than she thinks because she is living.
The night the paranormal guys are there, the demon possesses Quinn causing her to attack the guys and her dad with a monkey wrench. Then she stands up, and kicks the bed until her casts break off. You can hear her bones creaking and grinding because of her broken legs, and it is pretty unnerving. Elise comes back appearing stronger and more willing to do this. She reveals that the demon is not like any other she has encountered. While most spirits seek bodies to posses so they can live again, this demon wants to drag living souls into the Further so it can torture them. In the Further now, Elise sets free the spirit of a girl that the demon had captured years before and overcomes Bride in Black. The Demon takes the form of Elise’s husband whom killed himself a year ago, the demon tries to get her to kill herself but she sees through it’s trick. She then grabs the faceless version of Quinn, which is actually half of Quinn’s soul that the demon controls. Elise returns to the living world and tells the group this is part of the battle that Quinn must fight alone. However, Quinn is losing as the alternate version gains more of the features. Elise hears a voice of wife of Quinn’s neighbor who died the other night, leading her to Quinn’s diary which contains a letter that Lillith wanted her to read before graduation. The power of this letter helps guide Lillith to save Quinn and banish the demon. Lillith leaves her with some parting words and the family reunites. While Specs and Tucker join elise to deal with other supernatural disturbances, they argue about what they’re going to wear.
Elise makes it home and talks to her dog, then finds her husband’s sweater on the bed. She is overly emotional and she hugs the sweater talking to her husband. The dog begins to bar into the darkness and a face stares at her off in the distance. As she stares at the face, the Darth Maul demon from the first film pops up next to her and the movie ends.
Holy crap was this movie intense in parts. It freaked me out a little not going to lie. I really enjoyed this movie, I still like the original the best though, that one scared me shitless when I watched it. Any movie that can scare me has done a great job. The acting was good, Dermot Mulroney is always solid it seems. The visuals go from scary, to unsettling, and even frightening. The scene where she breaks her casts off and stands on her mending legs had me looking away, in fear that they would snap again. It’s the same queasy feeling I have seeing a football player’s leg bend in the opposite direction, ugh my nightmare! I like how the movie connects the other two and makes it seem like one big movie instead of a bunch of separate films. Lin Shaye is great, it is nice to see that she is finally getting some credit in the acting world and people are taking notice. I have enjoyed her since seeing her in Detroit Rock City as the over protective crazy KISS hating mother. I would suggest this movie to anyone that loves horror and loves a good scare. I would give this a A-, it is scary and well put together but not as good as the original.
