Some critics and horror fans have complained that Insidious, recently released to theaters, isn't much more than a mash-up of various "haunting" films from the past: Poltergeist (1982), The Amityville Horror (1979), Paranormal Activity (2009), etc. But as far as I'm concerned, any movie that can pull great elements from those films and provide decent characters and a near-constant supply of suspense, is a success. It's not as though this is the first horror film (or film, in general) to borrow heavily from predecessors; and Insidious works much better than a lot of recent remakes and throwbacks. The opening credits, which feature a quiet, creepy score over still images, sets the tone. The title card--INSIDOUS--takes up the entire screen; its font is distinctly from the 1970's. In many ways the rest of the movie takes a traditional approach to its material; director James Wan (Saw [2004], Dead Silence [2007]) utilizes long takes and a decidedly non-slick style. And there's no distracting pop music anywhere in the soundtrack. Definitely an old school sort of vibe.
But Insidious doesn't build slowly, like most films of its sub-genre. We're given a spooky and suitably vague pre-credits scene, and after the credits we meet the family, the protagonists who are already being visited by some otherworldly presence in their home. Things get pretty intense in the first twenty minutes, and really, never let up until the film's end. I checked the time about forty minutes in, thinking more time must have passed, because there was no way we had more than half a movie left, with all that had taken place.
That said, the second half isn't quite as good as the first. The setup is so good that it's hard to imagine any filmmaker could fully deliver on its promise. Wan does a decent job of it, and while I wasn't blown off my feet by the final scenes, they're certainly competent, and the ending is a respectable one.
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