by Austen Terry, Contributing Writer
James Wan has directed and helped create three intense horror movie franchises: Saw, Insidious, and The Conjuring. Along with Leigh Whannell, he also created the first of five Insidious movies, which brought new depth to possession movies. Wan has gone on to direct several other projects all over the board, but stayed on as a producer for the Insidious franchise, handing Whannell the reins for the third movie. Now, five years since Insidious: The Last Key, and 13 years since Insidious, we have (according to Jason Blum) Insidious: The Red Door, the final chapter in the Lambert tale. This time, series star Patrick Wilson enters the directing chair for his directorial debut, which begs the question: Will this be a satisfying end to the Insidious series?
The Red Door picks up 10 years after the events of Chapter 2, where Josh (Wilson) and Dalton (Ty Simpkins) have completely forgotten the further, astral projection, and the horrors they suffered. With Dalton heading off to college, he begins to uncover those repressed memories, and with the help of his friend Chris (Sinclair Daniel), he tries to figure out what happened to him when he was 10. Simultaneously, Josh tries to figure out why he has distanced himself from his family, and begins to rediscover what happened.
Wilson shines as the director, and I hope he gets to do more directing in the future. You can tell he is a pro by the way some scenes are shot and set up. Helping him in that department is cinematographer Autumn Eakin. This movie is shot beautifully, and it feels like its own story rather than one that’s part of a series.
Only in the past few years have I become a fan of these movies, but also, when I discovered who wrote the screenplay, I was nervous. This time around, Whannell only has a Story By credit, while Scott Teems has the credit for the screenplay. This is the first time someone other than Whannell or Wan has a writing credit, and having seen Halloween Kills and Firestarter, Teems’ other writing projects which I did not like, I was skeptical of this movie. I was wrong though; The Red Door‘s story is great, and serves as a great way to close the door on this franchise.
Wilson and Simpkins are fantastic together. Having now worked together from when Simpkins was a child, and now into adulthood, you can see the progression of their father-son dynamic. Simpkins has grown as an actor, and is not just that kid from Iron Man 3 anymore. Wilson brings some great chemistry out of his actors, and makes The Red Door as much a family drama as a horror movie. There are long parts where we see how forgetting the past has hurt Josh and Dalton’s relationship, as well as themselves mentally. That is something unseen in most horror movies. We usually get one movie with a haunted family, maybe two; but hardly ever do we go back years later to see the damage caused to the family.
While there are still gruesome jump scares, and while Wilson, having been in two possession-style horror franchises, knows how to scare his audience, that this doesn’t feel like a typical horror film is where it excels. The film’s drama brings more out than anything. Again to praise Eakin, the background of these movies always needs to be looked at, and she stands out here with the just-out-of-focus spirits, amongst other things, in the frame that make the background just as frightening as the jump scares.
As a horror movie fan, I truly had a scary, fun time with The Red Door, and while I truly believe it is an excellent close to this franchise, if Blumhouse decides to do more, I won’t be upset. Honestly, I would enjoy a TV show following Specs (Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Sampson) around, as Elise (Lin Shaye) helps them pick up where their story ends in the first movie. I look forward to what is brought to us horror fans from Blumhouse next, and from whatever Wilson’s followup movie is. Hopefully it’s a Conjuring film.
Rating: High Side of Liked It
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