Well, the end has come...allegedlys. With The Red Door dropping, we saw the end of James Wan's Insidious Universe. This one, however, was directed by Patrick Wilson, himself. A job well done, if you ask me. The fear was there, but I still think the first installment has the hold on the uneasy scare factor. The characters were great and the fact that they all came back mad le it even more special of a send off ti the Insidious Universe. The writing was well done and the stakes actually went to a place that kept up with the pace of the first two installments. This one picks up over a decade since we last saw the Lambert Family. If you remember; when we last saw them, they had survived the events of Insidious 2. Dalton and Josh were hypnotized to forget all the events of the first two movies, but it seems that the lasting effects are not for the better.
The whole Lambert Family was back for this one, aside from Josh's Mother, Lorraine. It's revealed early on in Insidious: The Red Door why Lorraine is nowhere to be seen. She passed away. The opening of the movie sees the Lambert family all grown up attending a funeral together, which happens to be Lorraine's. Her death is what brings us back to the Lambert Family after all of these years and its effect opens up the theme of generational trauma that The Red Door will explore. While not much news is given on how or why Lorraine died, the scene is significant for a few reasons.
Outside of being a tragic event in the Lambert family life, Lorraine's funeral is the first opportunity we have to catch a glimpse of how fractured their unit has become. Josh is now suffering from the death of the only parent he was raised by and the rest of his family has distanced themselves from him. Renai has divorced him and Dalton all but hates his father. With his memories completely repressed, Josh's final link to the Further has now passed, along with the only caregiver he's ever known. Unfortunately, Barbara Hershey has not spoken about why she wasn't included in Insidious: The Red Door. It could be scheduling-related. The actor's next project is currently in post-production, a thriller film starring Kyle Gallner and Willa Fitzgerald known as Strange Darling. It's most likely that Barbara Hershey isn't in Insidious 5 is probably the story itself. The movie introduces Ben, Josh's deceased father. It's possible that for focus to be put on the relationship between Ben and Josh, Lorraine needed to be out of the picture. That way Josh could go searching for answers on his own. Plus, to be honest, the Josh / Lorraine story didn't have any more places to go. We also had to see Josh completely defeated for this movie.
The added tension of Dalton and Josh's relationship heightened the trauma for me. As a watcher, I found myself thinking, "Damn; they've forgotten all this terrible shit, but here they are in terrible shit, as far as relationships go. They barely speak to each other. They are hostile to each other and can't agree on one thing. To me, this starts the pace early for both characters descent back Into The Further and their past traumas. It certainly gives a nice preface to the fight they will have to go through with each other and for each other, as the movie goes on.
What is Insidious without the entities of The Further, and this one brings back a fan favorite and OG member...Lipstick Faced Demon...Hey, I didn't name him; but he is back and pissed. Not only that; he's beaten down and old and weak at first. He's still suffering after his defeat in the first movie. The slow build to his return is nice. Almost as if, each chip at Dalton and Josh is allowing him to build back up to his former glory. As for other entities, there aren't many big time ones like there were in the first 2. We get a callback to Bride in Black, but no others. There's a new one in the frat house, but other than that, some random ones at times. It is a cool little wrap up having the originals face off again. Especially, with the final culmination between Lipstick Face and Dalton. Some fantastic acting in Ty's part.
Overall, I would give it an 8 / 10. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The pace is good. The callbacks were great. The cast was great. The writing felt like the older Insidious movies and we even got a nice return and moment with Elise. So overall, a great addition and farewell to the franchise. I have to say, I have enjoyed these movies. I may like them better than The Conjuring. Shhhhh; don't tell Vera I said that! Oh, and Patrick Wilson also recorded a duet with rockstar Ghost for the credits of the movie. It's awesome. That man is multi talented. Ocean Master, musicals, Demonologist, and dream hopping Dad; what can't the man do? At one point, he was my DreamCast for Doctor Doom. He could do it.
Welp, that's all I got on that. What did you all think? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us on social media! Thank you for taking the time to read! Please leave a like and share the blog! Subscribe to our Nerdly Newsletter on the site too! Remember...Keep a steady stride...cheers to y'a.
