Insidious will leave you feeling haunted

After many recommendations, I have finally watched Insidious! I don't even know how many people have asked me if I've seen this. After a point, I started thinking there must really be something to this movie. There is!

Matt, From Spooky Halloween Arts, was generous enough to send me the movie. I'll try not to give any crucial pieces of the plot away, but you might not want to read this if you haven't seen Insidious yet.

I felt like Insidious paid tribute to some classic movie genres while still bringing something new. We've all seen enough haunted house and possession movies and those subjects are both represented here. What's new is the idea of Astral Projection.

Overall, I think the movie was artistically done. There appeared to be a greenish-bluish lens over most of the film, which gave it a bleak look. The first house in the movie is a large, Arts and Crafts style house that was built in 1909.

The characters who live in this house are a couple and their three children. The mom stays home with her kids through the day and gets to hear every shift and creak the old house makes. Sometimes she's also treated to the sight of shadowy figures wandering about. One particularly creepy moment happens when she hears something on the baby monitor that is not at all a baby.

After enough of these high jinks, the mother is convinced her new house is haunted. To make matters worse, her young son has had an apparent fall in the attic and is now in a coma. She convinces her husband to move the family to a new house. Their new place is light and airy, the total opposite of the last house. However, it's not long until the activity starts up again.

A priest is brought in, and we are eventually introduced to a psychic and duo of paranormal investigators. The paranormal investigators have sort of a Mormon missionary look to them. They're dressed more formally than any paranormal investigators I've ever seen. They add whatever levity is in the film. The psychic reminded me of the little woman who comes in to help the family in Poltergeist. She was sweet, soft spoken, trying to help a child, and a conduit for the other side.

One of the dressed up investigators with the psychic

The psychic makes contact with a series of paranormal entities. In a scene which is probably open to interpretation, I watched what I think was a residual haunting of the first house. Then there are other random ghosts wandering about and something that very closely resembles a devil/demon/the worst old Krampus postcard images you've ever seen.

I happened across a makeup tutorial for anyone who would like to recreate the creature's look:



Whether you find Insidious scary will depend on what scares you. There's not a whole lot of stuff leaping out at you, despite what the trailer leads you to believe. Watching that, you'd think this movie is just a bunch of nonstop jump scares. It's much more subtle and artistic than that.

In fact, Insidious reminded me a little of The Woman in Black. I was reminded because of the movie's timing and build up to scares. That and one of the characters looks nearly identical to her.  Maybe there have been lots of black veiled women in Victorian mourning dresses in Horror movies, and I've missed them. The veiled character in this movie was sort of a Woman in Black/Baby Jane mashup.



The same makeup artist you saw in the first video also created a version of that old lady ghost:



Isn't it funny to hear him sounding like a nice person under all this creepy makeup? Not that this is at all related to Insidious, but he does a killer Beetlejuice makeup tutorial too.

Somehow "Tiptoe Through The Tulips" managed to get even creepier when used in this movie. It was a surprising song choice, but it worked. I found some video of the "Tiptoe" scene with a little hidden gem. I bet those of you who watched the movie missed it. I sure did.



That's part of what's scary about ghost movies - the idea of something being able to watch you without you seeing it.

I found myself most freaked by a scene that probably wasn't supposed to be the most scary. For those who've seen the movie, you'll remember the unmoving wax-like figures in the 1950s style clothing.

I've seen this character referred to as The Doll Girl

I assumed these figures were the previous residents of the first house. Since we're viewing what I assume was a murder that took place in the home long ago, they've become yet another layer of the haunting.

The movie ended in a way that made me say "What!?" It was clearly one of those "...to be continued" endings. I wasn't aware until now that Insidious Chapter 2 came out in 2013. I need to see that! Many of the reviews I've read say that the second movie is even scarier than the first.

Last night after watching the movie, I thought to myself how it was just the right amount of scary. I laughed at myself during the movie as I jumped at a few moments, and I didn't feel traumatized after viewing it. I did, however, think of the movie a little today. Since basically all the action happens inside two homes, I noticed some household items reminding me of scary moments. Every door seemed suspicious, like it might creak open.

The ghosts were big on door opening.

The writers were saying on the DVD commentary how they thought the movie would stick with viewers, because of those everyday moments around the house. Common, uneventful moments like looking in a bathroom mirror, or reaching into a kitchen drawer, make you think twice after watching Insidious. This goes to show the movie's everyday, ordinary vibe. I really did feel like I was watching a normal family. Sometimes we're watching them from such a distance that we can  assume something else is watching them too.

Insidious is a slow burn of scares. It sneaks up on you. I went from wondering when the action would occur to getting the chills. The movie has that slower pace. If you're into subtle, shadowy frights, you'll have a good time getting scared by Insidious!