Story: Josh (Patrick Wilson) and his wife Renai (Rose Byrne) have just moved into a beautiful home, giving their family what they hope will be a dream house to thrive in. But soon after they arrive, their young son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) ventures into the attic to explore and after climbing a tall ladder, he falls off and lands in a coma. But the doctors are a little baffled by the case, since Dalton doesn’t show any head trauma and as such, they’re unsure why he is comatose. The incident puts Renai on edge and she begins to suspect dark forces are at work, when strange things begin to happen around the house and while Josh tries to console her, Renai is convinced the house has some evil presence. In order to appease and wife and protect his family, Josh moves everyone once again, but will a new house be the end of these mysterious events?

Entertainment Value: Insidious was a box office hit and spawned several sequels, but I found the movie to be solid, as opposed to exceptional. The narrative is fine and while the story doesn’t innovate much, the core premise works and has good potential. I do wish that potential was explored more or at least had the filmmakers take that basic concept and polish it to a high shine. Insidious winds up as watchable, but rather run of the mill and for me, it lacked a lot of what I hoped to find here. The film moves slowly and that’s not a bad thing per se, but when the atmosphere isn’t being built and tension is minimal, the slow burn pace becomes tiresome. I had hoped perhaps the pace would ramp up and provide an excellent final act, instead the movie is content to lean on jump scares or loud noises. The end result for me isn’t terrible, but there are no scares here beyond the cheap ones, which was a disappointment. I can’t give Insidious much of a recommendation, but it isn’t bad, so perhaps I just expected too much in this case.

While I wasn’t bowled over by the movie itself, the cast of Insidious is rock solid and has some more than solid performances. Patrick Wilson is fun to watch as the loving, but often exasperated husband, while Rose Byrne is good as the overwhelmed, panicked wife. The two have good chemistry on screen and that helps the material, but of course, the two can only do so much. Wilson is serious in his delivery, but it feels a little campy at times, which I appreciated and wish was dialed up. But I find such elements entertaining, so perhaps it wouldn’t be a good choice, just one that would have held my attention more. Byrne is dead serious and her performance is believable, though she isn’t given a lot to do here. The cast also includes Lin Shaye, Ty Simpkins, Barbara Hershey, Leigh Whannell, and Angus Sampson.

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