Is there some sort of competition occuring between the various James Wan created franchises to see who can score the most convoluted timeline? I only ask because when you line them all up, their chronology zigs and zags more than a drunk driver asked to walk the white line. The Conjuring movies and their many spin-offs have presented us with a connected universe that spans across thirty four years, while the Saw movies have often been even more erratic in their chronological endeavours, flashing back and forth numerous times within the actual films themselves, creating a complex gumbo of events that would need a PHD in Jigsaw-bullshit to iron it all out.
Bringing up the rear is the Insidious franchise, arguably the least famous (or infamous) of the group – but with the release of Out Of The Further, we find that the ghostly reach of a series that’s frequently bounced between the misfortunes of the Lambert family and psychic Elise Rainer has decided to claw its elongated digits even deeper into some new lore.
Gemma Hall grew up under the stress of a mother whose severe mental issues not only made her child’s life a living hell, but it also ultimately cost the troubled mother her life after she beat her own brains out in the bathroom whilst in the grip of a particularly violent episode. Years later, we find Gemma not only leading a relatively normal life with her own daughter, Maya, but she’s trying to do it in her childhood home that once caused her so much pain.
But while she makes her living as a dentist, dates nice guy cop, Nick, and tries to talk her precocious daughter out of wanting to get a dog, a particularly malevolent (or should that be insidious) shadow is looming over them that’s triggered by the appearance in the neighbourhood of three creepy old folks who seem to be giving her the eyeball. Worse yet, Gemma starts to be plagued by devestating nightmares that sees her both transported to an ethereal reality and stalked by a demonic entity. Regular visitors to this misty realm will recognise is as the Further, the dimension that exists between the worlds of the living and what lies beyond, and it seems one of its monstrous residents has targeted Gemma for her very special gift.
After being approached from beyond the grave by former psychic Elise Rainer, whose spirit now resides in the Further trying to right supernatural wrongs, it seems that Gemma has a rare and very valuable talent: not only is she a Traveller who can visit the realm at will, but she also has the ability to bring things out of the Further, which makes her a gargantuan target for ghostly cult leader Cyrus Lam.
It seems that Cyrus has made a deal with the other, assorted leering ghouls and snarling demons that reside in this between-place, that he can bring them back to the real world using Gemma as a conduit – which proves to be highly inconvenient at best…
I have to say, I’ve never been much of an Insidious guy. While I’ll happily agree that the first movie is a genuinely innovative frightener that utilises it’s grunge-core reworking of Poltergeist to its fullest, I’ve never been enamored of the franchise to fully embrace it and memorise it’s various monsters the way some of the Conjuring gang has become household names. However, I wasn’t prepared for how much I actually enjoyed the sixth edition of this reliably creepy horror series, that manages to somehow be a far better, greatest hits installment than the previous movie despite not having the original main actors pop up at all. Essentially delivering a brand new story that expands the lore, while delivering some of the best ghost sequences the franchise has seen in ages, Out Of The Further actually manages to take the series further than ever before.
Part of the reason that Out Of The Further works so well is, beyond avoiding getting bogged down in the continuity too much, director Jacob (Come Play) Chase knows that these types of film move far smoother if the various, skin-crawling setpieces are as taunt as the cadaverous flesh that covers the faces of the violently departed. Here, the sixth Insidious deploys a number of cracking scare sequences that utilise various phobias to the fullest. A moment that sees Amelia Eve’s plucky heroine suddenly find herself stuck in the claustrophobic confines of an endless cushion maze only gets more tense when leering, palid, snaggle-toothed faces start peeking around the corners. And later on Gemma’s profession as a dentist is skillfully brought to the fore when she’s required to scrape sickeningly gooey plaque off the chompers of one of the trio of memorably repulsive acolytes, who do the main villain’s bidding in the human world.
However, while the main story concerning a character with rare ghost powers may hardly set the world of horror scriptwriting ablaze, it’s how the movie utilises the established lore in really fun ways that really got me hooked. For a start, the idea of Lin Shaye’s long-dead Elise running around the Further and sticking her nose into paranormal conspiracies in the ghost dimension like the fucking Equaliser is too good to screw up, and likewise, Chase’s eccentric approach to explaining the lore proves to be both equally strange, but strangely endearing. I don’t know if laying out the plots of movies using tattooed pieces of grapefruit is going to catch on, but I’m sure glad this ridiculous story-telling gimmick is here.
However, if an Insidious movie stands or falls on the basis of anything, it’s usually the effectiveness of whatever gnarled being has been chosen to be the big bad. While the blindfolded Cyrus Lam may not be as instantly iconic as the Lipstick Faced Demon, or as visually impressive as KeyFace, his plan to act as a demonic Uber service to transport all the other ghosts into the land of the living means that the final act of the film is a who’s who of Insidious villains as such past antagonists as the Bride In Black, Doll Girl and the Man Who Can’t Breathe, which perversely ends up being way more nostalgic than simply getting Patrick Wilson or Rose Byrne to randomly show up. Even better, if the franchise was to be willing to end on a high note, Out Of The Further – with it’s Cabin In The Woods blowout and genuinely cool final denouement – would actually be a surprisingly kick-ass place to end it, especially as the thought of Lin Shaye bringing justice to the Further like a little old lady version of Dog The Bounty Hunter might be the best concept the series has ever had.
While I wasn’t expecting anything much from this newest installment and the basic plot may be precisely that – basic – the sixth Insidious movie gives its rudimentary moments a real snap in its step by enthusiastically fleshing out the setpieces, taking the lore to some legitimately cool places and hogpiling on the past villains in an orgy of spectral excess that would make the Ghostbusters soil their jumpsuits. I don’t know if the franchise could (or even should) try and top this, but if this is the end, the series goes into the afterlife fighting.
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