Insidious Blu-Ray Review

Movie Review

A gripping story of a husband (Patrick Wilson) and wife (Rose Byrne) in search of help for their son, Dalton, who fell into a mysterious coma on one ordinary morning.  Little do they know that there is much more to this endless sleep than meets the eye as things start to go all spooky in their house as they explore the paranormal and rediscover the past to find a way to get their son back once and for all.

The is a really scary film, just like the horror flicks of the 70′s, it has many jump out of your seat moments peppered throughout with long pauses of anticipation and tension.  By the end you’ll be ringing out your clothes as they’ll be dripping with sweat from the riveting and sometimes shocking scenes.  As things start to get stranger, we are brought into a realm of the underworld that is both unsettling and imaginative.  By the end though the film gets a little silly and while still bringing the scares till the last second it slightly falls apart in the last 15 minutes.  Seriously, don’t watch this film alone or in the dark unless you want to scare the bejesus out of yourself.

Director James Wan (Saw, Death Sentence) brings a level of restraint to proceedings with all the gore porn of his previous films completely removed.  He is adept at ratcheting up the tension and gives us many short, sharp shocks of spine tinkling scares that will have you reaching for the light switch in a hurry.  Writer Leigh Whannell (Saw I-III) is an accomplished writer, producer and actor; he was the other guy in the room with Cary Elwes in the first Saw movie.  He doesn’t overly explain stuff here which is beneficial as most of what makes you jump should be in your own head.  When things are explained it all makes sense and while some would balk at the explanation i found it rather interesting.

The acting is pretty decent with Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson both having good roles, although Rose probably has the tougher time of it as she is in the house all the time.  While Wilsons sub plot is introduced it never really amounts to much which is a shame.  Barbara Hershey pops up to basically move the plot along fill in some story points while Lin Shaye (The old lady from ‘There’s Something About Mary’) is here as the psychic sent in to rid the house of whatever is going on.  She is both creepy in her own right but brings an element of class that I’ve never seen from her before.

Video Presentation

Filmed entirely with the use of HD cameras, the direct digital-to-digital transfer shows great fine object and textural details although it does look very much like home video, sometimes distractingly so.  Mid to close-ups fare best, revealing wrinkles and tiny arbitrary facial blemishes in the actors. Although comfortably bright and consistent with sharp whites, contrast comes off rather dull, which makes facial complexions often appear somewhat pale and lifeless.  Black levels, on the other hand, are rich and full-bodied without ruining any visibility within shadows or the many dimly-lit sequences, which is crucial for the movie’s scare factor.  Colours are intentionally muted, adding to the plot’s eerie atmosphere, but primaries are accurate and bold though there is some slight banding during “The Further” sequence.  All in all, a very strong digital-to-digital transfer, albeit it one that shows the look inherent to the medium.

Audio Presentation

Leaving a better impression is this very entertaining DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, terrifically supplementing the on-screen scares with random creepy noises.  To be fair, most of the rear activity is reserved for sudden, loud effects meant to jump viewers out of their seats, but they are discrete and convincing nonetheless, generating a frightful atmosphere that’s a great deal of fun.  The rest of the imaging is quite persuasive and engaging, giving the lossless mix a strong presence with believable movement between channels and a sharply-defined, room-penetrating mid-range.  Dialogue and character interaction remains crystal-clear and intelligible amid the action.  With a deeply commanding and highly-responsive low-end adding to the standard shock tactics, the high-res track is fantastic at delivering a spine-chilling experience to a hair-rising ghost story.

Extras

‘Horror 101: The Exclusive Seminar — Director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell explain their creative process and aspiration for the movie, sharing their devoted love to the horror genre.

On Set with Insidious — made mostly from behind-the-scenes footage, the director and writer continue talking about the production, working with the cast and the overall mood while on set.

Insidious Entities — a closer, somewhat in-depth look at the various ghosts seen in the movie and the lipstick-face demon.

This is a really scary film and for those of you are tired of the gore porn of the ‘Saw’ movies, this is a welcome return to the shock horror films of the 70′s, well worth a look.

‘Insidious’ is out to rent or buy on DVD and Blu-Ray now.

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