Trailer Review: Insidious Chapter 2 (2013)

Insidious was a hugely successful ghost movie and it made mega profits for the studio that released it. A sequel was therefore inevitable and Insidious had an open ending which meant the plot could easily segue into a second film. All the main cast members return including Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne as parents Josh and Renai Lambert. The parents along with their three kids were haunted by ghosts from a kind of spirit world called the Further. The family brought in some ghost hunters to help them fight the spirits and all hell broke loose toward the end of the film.

In this sequel they decide to leave their home and move in with the Grandma. Grandma Lorraine Lambert is played by Barbara Hershey who looks young enough to be Josh’s sister not his mother. The Lamberts appear to be living in peace for a while and all is well in the house. Unfortunately that calm will not last as a ghost from the previous film returns to cause more trouble. The family will have to call in the ghostbusters again if they hope to stand a chance against this angry spirit.

James Wan has been busy as Insidious Chapter 2 and The Conjuring which he also directed are both being released this year. Both films focus on a family being haunted and both films have Patrick Wilson in them. Lorraine’s house even bears a passing resemblance to the house in The Conjuring with the chintzy wallpaper and large rooms. Both films also have a lady in white apparition which seems to be the main threat. Hopefully the narratives will be different enough to make the films more distinct from each other. Wan is a talented director with a vivid imagination and not known to repeat himself or be lazy creatively.

It seems that when a new horror film is released the creative minds behind it have a checklist of tropes they feel obligated to include like jump scares, loud bangs, objects being thrown around by the ghosts etc. That is familiar territory for horror fans and sometimes it gets a little boring to see the same scares all the time. Insidious Chapter 2 also throws in the obligatory seance scene which is doled out in so many horror flicks. A similar scene also appeared in Insidious but it was so bizarre that it stood out as a highlight. Wan can often take a well worn horror movie trope and make it intriguing by adding something new or different to it. One particular scene in the trailer that stands out is when the eldest son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) is hiding from his father. The fact he is hiding from someone he should trust is interesting by itself and it will make viewers think back to the ending of the first film. What’s also nice is how Dalton’s pajamas have a similar colour and pattern to the wallpaper in the corridor he is hiding in. As he hides around the corner and presses his back to the wall he almost blends into the wallpaper with his pajama camouflage. One of the best things about the first film was how creative the director was with the material. The film had some innovative scare scenes and fairly novel concepts like The Further where time seems to stand still. If the sequel has some of that creativity and imagination it could turn out to be the best horror of the year.

Another nice element in the first film was the music and how good use was made of the song ‘Tiptoe Through The Tulips’. That song is used again in the trailer for the sequel along with a creepy version of ‘Row Your Boat’. The orchestral music is also tense and the trailer uses a technique that is popular and always effective. It begins with a calm song and then the music abruptly changes as the heat is graduallly turned up. The audio also contains plenty of whispering voices, sighs and an unsettling droning sound.

It will be interesting to see how the sequel deals with the consequences of the ending in the first film. The trailer does show a few hints which help answer that question but no serious details are revealed. Insidious had an interesting ending which had everyone wondering how the sequel would pan out. The Lambert family went through hell in the first movie and it was easy to feel sympathy for them. It will be nice if they can finally get a happy ending eventually.

Eager fans won’t have to wait too long for Insidious Chapter 2 as it will be released on September 13th. Have a look at the trailer and share your thoughts.