I do enjoy horror movies, and I’ve seen all of the Insidious movies to date…so when I saw this movie advertised, I was immediately interested in watching it.
The previous movie in this franchise ended with both Josh and his son, Dalton, repressing their memories of their time of being able to astral project and enter the Further. Originally, it seemed like that was the ending of the franchise. After all, with the memories entirely repressed, how could there be any memories from the Further?
Well, it seems like the Further…and specifically, the Lipstick-Face Demon…isn’t finished with Josh and his family yet. Josh doesn’t remember being able to astral project, and he doesn’t remember the Further, or the traumatic experiences his family and he went through there. Unfortunately, this has resulted in Josh becoming ‘foggy’. He doesn’t remember the Further, but he is also struggling with memory problems…and not being able to engage with his children, resulting in him and his wife separating and a clear divide between him and Dalton especially.
It’s not very clear what triggers the opening of the red door, but the movie is suitably creepy leading up to the appearance of the Lipstick-Demon. I was a bit disappointed not to see more of the Further, however. In the previous movies, I thought the Further was the most interesting and creepy part…and honestly, it would have been nice to see more of it in this movie.
I did think there were some really good creepy moments in this movie. As a viewer, there were a couple of things I saw that the characters didn’t, which was a good and different way of drawing out the fear. There were a couple of really disgusting scenes, though, that kind of ruined the horror for me. I honestly felt that the over the top scene with the ghost being sick ruined some of the movie for me.
I liked the link in with the previous Insidious movies and what had happened there. It was also really good to learn more about Josh’s own past and his family history. I also really liked Chris as a character; I loved her friendship with Dalton, and the fact that she was so enthusiastic about helping him figure out what was going on. Plus, she felt very much like the voice of reason in this movie – which is sadly lacking in so mnay horror movies.
I did enjoy this movie, and it was great to see a couple of cameos from some of the other characters in the franchise. It would be good to see more of the Further in future installments of this franchise…since I can’t imagine everything is now calm and peaceful. Besides. A movie franchise that works well isn’t going to end any time soon…looking at Mission Impossible and Fast and Furious, to name just two.
Ink of Blood 