Insidious: The Red Door, 2023.
Directed by Patrick Wilson.
Starring Ty Simpkins, Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, Andrew Astor, Hiam Abbass, Sinclair Daniel, Peter Dager, Mary Looram, and Juliana Davies.
SYNOPSIS:
To put their demons to rest once and for all, Josh Lambert and a college-aged Dalton Lambert must go deeper into The Further than ever before, facing their family’s dark past and a host of new and more horrifying terrors that lurk behind the red door.
Insidious: The Red Door is flawed from its premise and, as a result, boring. A prologue reintroduces viewers to Josh Lambert (a returning Patrick Wilson, now in the director’s chair for the first time in his career) and young son Dalton, having not been seen since Chapter 2 (the third and fourth films were prequels primarily centered on gifted psychic and astral projection specialist Elise, as played by Lin Shaye), where through some convenient writing (the script comes courtesy of Scott Teems, based on a story and characters created by Leigh Whanell), some encouraged psychotherapy erases all memories of their encounters with demonic spirits in the spiritual plane, and most notably, a traumatizing incident that saw Josh possessed in the real world, smashing through doors with a hammer, with evil intent to murder his family.
The obvious, glaring fault is that anyone interested in buying a ticket for this probably hasn’t forgotten these events. Even just brushing up on the series for a refresher, one can come into Insidious: The Red Door, which ages these characters up nine years (and appropriately so, allowing the filmmakers to bring back Ty Simpkins as Dalton) with a firm handle on the past, frustrated that the following 100 minutes is mostly a tedious journey for these characters to remember, and why the choice to forget this particular shared trauma probably wasn’t a wise one to make. Flashbacks to previous entries are treated like major story revelations or excuses to trot lame cameos (as if moviegoers are nostalgic for characters in this universe). The only ones that might be surprised or engaged by anything related to the narrative here will be anyone that has never seen an Insidious movie before.
In the present day, Dalton is headed to a liberal arts school, estranged from his father, who is also now divorced from Rose Byrne’s Renai. Her screen time amounts to a glorified cameo, which would be fine if the act of watching Insidious: The Red Door didn’t feel like it was cutting as many corners as possible to make this already contrived narrative come together. There’s more, as Josh’s mother has recently died, forcing everyone to come together at the funeral where Renai suggests that Josh try to spend more time with his son, driving him up to the college campus.
From there, the two blow up and get into an argument, as the angsty, moody Dalton feels abandoned and uncared for by his father. Feeling guilt, Josh undergoes medical examinations to see if there’s anything wrong with him mentally. As previously mentioned, all this does is unravel a series of plot points that viewers are already familiar with for the most part. Meanwhile, a misplaced roommate named Chris Winslow (Sinclair Daniel) inexplicably takes a friendly liking to the loner Dalton, enthusiastically pushing him into trying out frat activities. There is also an awkward, quippy nature about her, as if a Marvel character found its way into a horror movie, cracking jokes at inappropriate times, often ruining whatever immersion is to be found.
One day during art class, an assignment causes Dalton to get back in touch with his repressed gifted abilities, venturing back into The Further. He is also compelled to paint a portrait of a demonic red man holding a hammer. Naturally, Chris finds this weird but is interested in helping Dalton. An assortment of basic jump scares ensues with numerous callbacks to previous films in the series. There’s not much scary here, although the final 20 minutes, where the characters once again find themselves trapped inside The Further, are moderately tense with one or two startling images. Patrick Wilson also proves himself capable of working with actors and directing solid performances.
Mostly, Insidious: The Red Door boringly offers more of the same with the baffling attempted hook of hoping everyone has forgotten everything about this series. They need not worry, as nothing here will ensure anyone remembers much.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
