Why We Need to Celebrate ‘Insidious Chapter 2’ More
Horror sequels are almost always a step down from their predecessors. Halloween 2, Scream 2, The Exorcist 2, more recently IT: Chapter 2; the terrible twos, if you will. Or if you wish to stay a bit more neutral, at the very least it’s safe to say the terrible “simply not as good as the firsts”. There is a catch, though, one little wrench in the system that throws it all awry: the James Wan horror sequel. Wan has two sequels under his belt, both of which followed up mega horror hits that unarguably redefined the genre in the modern day. As much as I’d love to gush about The Conjuring 2, and how it defied all expectations in living up to the film before it, the original, and astonishingly underrated James Wan horror sequel is the second chapter in the Insidious franchise.
Insidious 2 is just as good as the first in many respects, yet the respect that it gets isn’t nearly on the level as the first instalment. Compared to that film’s 66% Rotten Tomatoes score (which is much too low in its own right), Insidious: Chapter 2 was pinned with a measly 38%. Universally, it seems, it is considered to be a far lesser achievement, if an achievement at all. Horror fans do have a tendency to reclaim certain films in the genre in time, but I’m tired of waiting. The second Insidious film deserves all the love that the first film gets, and stands alongside the it as one of the best the genre has had to offer in the mainstream in the last fifteen years.
Insidious 2’s plot springs off the terrific ending of the first film, in which Patrick Wilson’s Josh Lambert gets possessed by a childhood demon and kills Elise, the elderly demon… hunter? Demonologist? Whatever, she’s like a ghostbuster for demons. Unbeknownst to Josh and his family, he remains possessed in the sequel, and all sorts of horror hijinks ensue as a result.
Speaking of Patrick Wilson, there has been no horror lead more consistent in appearance and quality, and he is one of this film’s greatest strengths. He’s starred in three Conjuring movies, the first two Insidious movies (with his upcoming directorial debut being the fifth one), Netflix’s ‘In The Tall Grass’, and had a fun little appearance in the third Annabelle entry to boot; I may have even missed a few. Regardless, the point is, he’s always up to bat in these roles. Where Insidious 2 specifically differs, though, is in its usage of him as a threat. His presence in the entirety of the first film, and all the way up to this crucial point in the second, is a point of comfort for audiences to cling on to. Wilson has mastered the role of the weathered horror protagonist, father-like and fearless. So to see the moment where the switch flips, and our main source of solace against the evils throughout be overcome by them, it makes the final act feel shockingly hopeless.
Which is a wonderful mechanism in a film like this, even if it may be the most stressful experience imaginable. I’m not trying to argue that this sequel is better than the first film, as, again, that one unarguably helped redefine the horror genre as we know it, but it certainly elevates itself above its predecessor in this respect. It’s a totally new kind of scare, both debilitating and thrilling. To that aspect, his turning is made worse by the fact that we are unequivocally trapped with him. Insidious 2 is a full on haunted-house flick, driven by claustrophobia and horror tendencies of old. We can’t get out, and everything has already got in. Something about it feels so classic and unrestrained, raging in the complete opposite direction that its two immediate sequels would go.
Wan creates a terrifying secondary villain out of Wilson’s Josh Lambert, and fully utilizes him in the role up until the very last moment (something that also happens in the third Conjuring movie, also incredibly underrated), but the film’s main villain is incredible in his own right. Parker Crane, or “The Bride in Black”, dominates every second that he’s on screen. His ghastly white face contrasting with the black dress and veil is such a simple, basically effective look; it’s a look unlike any other from first glance, and from there, there’s no missing him.
The Bride was solidified as a threat at the end of the first film, as he was the one who possessed Josh and, by-proxy, killed Elise. He’s seen in the background of a few pictures and once in the in-universe afterlife of sorts referred to as “The Further” there, too. Here, the carry-over is perfect and, due to some subtle yet very eerie make-up once Josh gets possessed, Crane’s possession is visually communicated in a way that you may not even realize is adding to the impact of the sequence.
Further (wink), the flashback that finally explains Crane’s sinister look and his life is an all-time terror. The sequence is shot so much differently than the rest of the film; it is unbelievably visceral and feels uncanny in all the best ways. No great horror film has ever gotten by without a scene that people refer to as THAT scene when leaving the theater. This is that moment in Insidious 2, and there have been few (if any) moments like it in the genre since. The pure sickness that the visuals ooze is an unforgettable first experience.
The scenes that lead up to that flashback have their own visual identity as well, with harsh white light blasting in through the windows and glinting off the dusty toys and accessories of days gone in Crane’s childhood bedroom. The blinding light hitting the already pale walls creates a dreamy effect of sorts that makes everything feel frozen in time; untouched, unseen, much like Crane as a child, who’s mother overlooked him in favor of something that she wanted him to be. The feelings of unease that this introduction to the space creates spills over and transforms into painful discomfort during the aforementioned flashback.
The rest of the film is just as sharp visually though, even if the stuff in the Crane household is the best of it. There is a visible sadness set over the Lambert family that carries over from the first film. A combination of an anemic sort of coloring and an array of fantastic performances from the core cast. The feeling is two-of-two, really only ever being specifically accomplished in this way in the first two Insidious films. But with the sequel, it feels a little more confident in that manner, and flies higher as a result. No longer does a concept need to be built or proven, it’s just being executed here. Time after time, scene after scene, the results are memorable and scary.
Above all else, Insidious 2 is plain-old scary. It frightens in spades with fun ideas, well executed scare-sets, and a memorable main villain. I remain convinced that if this hadn’t come out in the same year as the first Conjuring film, it would be seen in a much more positive light. But with its tenth year anniversary coming up on September 13th of this year, maybe now is the perfect time for Insidious 2 to resurface and be reclaimed in the same way that The Village and Halloween 3: Season of the Witch have been in recent years, among many others.
With the fifth film in the franchise, ‘Insidious: The Red Door’ releasing this week, now is the perfect time to take a trip into the Further and revisit this absolute gem of the horror genre. A cult classic that never solidified, but absolutely deserved to.