STORY: The Lambert family continues to get haunted by evil spirits as they rediscover the past and regret their unsolicited paranormal connect with the dead. REVIEW: The ‘king of horror’ James Wan is back with Insidious Chapter 2 and if you don’t expect every horror film to be The Conjuring, you’ll find this one quite entertaining. However, since the sequel is clearly made with an intention to cash in on the success of its much more superior prequel, be prepared to find the scares a tad unimaginative, especially if you love the genre. The film picks up right where the previous one (Insidious 2010) ended.
After battling evil spirits from the dark side or ‘The Further’, where father Josh Lambert ( Patrick Wilson) himself travels, to get the soul of his son back, he returns with him safe but something changes. The Lambert family is haunted once again and there’s a massive backstory to explain ‘how it all started’. While the execution and some scare sequences are super-creepy, the whole unraveling the puzzle that comprises the backstory, gets too convoluted for a horror film. The family is looking for answers throughout and while they are at it, you wonder where this whole investigative drama is headed, as opposed to the prequel, where the spook quotient was higher. No wonder Wan declared that he would move on to making other genres post this one for he must have clearly sensed the dangers of overindulgence. The cast has been repeated and it’s perfect.
All actors manage to send shivers down your spine with their performance. The setting of Josh’s old house in particular gives you the chills; dark rooms, lonely nights, whispers in the corridors and sudden screams…Wan knows what it takes to unsettle you. Insidious Chapter 2 is tense and intriguing. If you haven’t seen the previous film, this might work better for you. Also, for the fainthearted, if you analyze your dreams way too much or face sleep disorders, stay away.