Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)
Directed by James Wan
The haunted Lambert family seeks to uncover the mysterious childhood secret that has left them dangerously connected to the spirit world.
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4 connections, in both directions
What critics compared Insidious: Chapter 2 to
In less of a nod than a flat-out rip-off of The Shining , the affliction can only be cured by the wholesale slaughter of Josh's family, as his own soul is stuck wandering the afterlife.
If Insidious Chapter 1 was little more than a classy and respectful homage to Poltergeist, then Insidious Chapter 2 borrows a few pages from “loony dad” thrillers like The Shining and The Stepfather.
What’s left is for genre fans to pass their time checking off the filmmakers’ borrowings (Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Steven Spielberg’s Poltergeist) while home-renovation buffs can ogle the bizarre clutter of Lorraine’s residence.
If the first “Insidious” often felt like an affectionate hat-tip to “The Shining,” with its gifted child able to commune with the undead (via the nocturnal art of astral projection), “Chapter 2” continues the homage by having Wilson go full Jack Torrance on us, as the seemingly upstanding Josh starts to seem less and less himself, and possibly turning into something quite dangerous.
When I realized that “Insidious: Chapter 2” was going to borrow liberally from “The Shining” (and stay tuned to the site next week for an early review of Steven King’s highly-anticipated sequel, “Doctor Sleep”), I got a little excited.
The other is Wilson’s low-key impression of Jack Nicholson in The Shining .
It’s intriguing that Wilson didn’t succumb to a copycat version of Insidious or Insidious: Chapter 2 with The Red Door, and unfortunately a jumbled, underdeveloped script thwarts him from the film reaching its full potential.
Picking up nine years after the events of Insidious: Chapter 2 , we find our protagonist, Josh Lambert (played by Patrick Wilson), grappling with repressed memories of The Further , that enigmatic, blue-hued ghost realm beyond our own.
Now here comes the 5th in the series, and (intriguingly) we pick up effectively where “Insidious: Chapter 2” left off in 2013 with the same characters and indeed the same cast!
After the events of Insidious: Chapter 2 , Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson) and his son, Dalton (Ty Simpkins) have their memories erased of Dalton’s coma, Josh’s possession, and suppressing their powers.
Wilson co-stars in “Insidious: The Red Door,” as well as the first “Insidious” movie (released in 2010) and 2013’s “Insidious: Chapter 2.” The other previous movies in the series are the prequel “Insidious: Chapter 3” (released in 2015) and 2018’s “Insidious: The Last Key.”
A direct sequel to 2013’s Insidious: Chapter 2 , INSIDIOUS: THE RED DOOR is set a decade after the second film.
The fact that James Wan had officially retired from directing horror movies after last year’s Insidious: Chapter 2 meant someone else would be helming this spin-off of The Conjuring (2013).
After the film became a hit, a sequel was all but assured but in a real 360 turn, now there is something to prove with Kingsman: The Golden Circle, and as we all know from films like Piranha 3DD, Now You See Me 2 and Insidious: Chapter 2, following up a novelty or sleeper hit is not easy but it can be done (see John Wick Chapter 2).