Insidious: The Red Door (2023)
Patrick Wilson makes his feature film debut as a director with the moody horror thriller Insidious: The Red Door.
As an actor Wilson has been so prominent with his lead role in that other horror franchise, The Conjuring, that it’s easy to forget that he also starred in the first two Insidious movie, which where then followed by two prequels, in which he didn’t.
Insidious: The Red Door sees the return of the original cast, with Wilson reprising his role as troubled father Josh Lambert and Rose Byrne as his ex-wife Renai Lambert, while Ty Simpkins returns as oldest son Dalton, who now goes to college.
The Red Door is meant both as a trilogy capper for the first two movies and as a conclusion for the franchise as a whole, even though it’s already announced that there will be a spin-off movie next with a new cast and focusing on other demons inhabiting the nether world known as the Further.
This movie focuses on the rocky relationship between Josh and Dalton, which has everything to do with events that happened in the first two movies.
After the burial of Josh’s mom in the opening scene, Renai makes the suggestion that Josh should drive Dalton to college, to strengthen their bond. Once there they get into one of their petty arguments, with Josh leaving in a huff.
The upside is that Josh, who in recent years has been suffering from brain fog, agrees to seek psychological help, while always moody Dalton meets a lively and funny girl, Chris Winslow (Sinclair Daniel), who teaches him to have fun.
However, it’s only a matter of time before demons from the past, like the powerful Lipstick Face Demon, begin to quite literally reappear in their lives and the main characters get back sucked into the Further once again.
The way the demons take possession of Josh is clearly meant as a metaphor for domestic violence and I think the movie shows that this kind of abuse can happen in the best of families, handed over from one generation to the next, good intentions notwithstanding, at least in part due to faulty genetic make-up.
Writer Scott Teems, working from characters created by Leigh Whannell, does an admirable job of keeping things grounded in reality, while Wilson does an equally good job with his actors, and only really lets the horror take over in the final part of the movie.
For someone like me, who likes drama and thrillers, that slow burn approach worked just fine, and even though it’s no instant classic, it’s definitely an above average genre movie.
So yes, it will be interesting to see where the series, produced by original director James Wan, goes next.
Note: Insidious: The Red Door is released this week both internationally and in the US, with countries like Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Spain to follow in the coming weeks.