“Insidious: The Red Door” is a 2023 supernatural horror film directed by Patrick Wilson, marking his directorial debut, and features a screenplay by Scott Teems based on a story by Leigh Whannell and Teems. Serving as a direct sequel to Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013), this film is the fifth installment in the Insidious franchise. Notably, James Wan, the original director, is involved as a producer, alongside Jason Blum through his Blumhouse Productions banner. The cast includes Ty Simpkins, Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Andrew Astor, Steve Coulter, Joseph Bishara, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Lin Shaye, Sinclair Daniel, and Hiam Abbass.
Storyline
The film follows Josh Lambert (Wilson) and his son Dalton (Simpkins) as they move to a new house in New York City. However, Dalton’s college dream soon becomes a living nightmare when the repressed demons of his past suddenly return to haunt them both.
Movie Review
If James Wan revolutionized this contradictory genre of horror in a certain way, “Insidious: The Red Door” is not here to revolutionize it, but to offer us a good example of the genre, well shot with decent photography, but it fails to surprise (we didn’t expect it to either) like the first film in the saga did.
Here we have a father-son story that, sharing DNA and artistic and tormented spirit, brings us this ghostly chapter that strives to repeat past successes by reusing learned formulas.
“Insidious: The Red Door” is not a disappointment per se, but it is also not a great surprise, as this fifth chapter of the saga is characterized by its classic narrative, with a balanced development of the story, and, in between, what should give the film its impact: the scares.
Unfortunately, they don’t achieve the aimed for impact, except for once or twice, at most. Perhaps, because we have already seen too many “classic” horror films, or because after a slow and deliberate scene, there is almost always that terrifying impact that is unforgettable and leaves us breathless for a few seconds and our eyes fixated on that memory.
This film fails to leave a mark, both visually and narratively, remaining as a run of the mill well-made horror film, with identical strikes of effect in an installment that, while it might have intended to, did not manage to surprise us at all.
Our Opinion
One that is forgotten before it even begins. It fails to leave us with that “Inception” idea or, unfortunately, leave us wanting to recommend it to friends.
The Cast
Sinclair Daniel
Hiam Abbass