Good morning, House of Madness residents:
Sometimes when a movie hits hard, you can't wait for a sequel to come along and blast your fucking nips off, only too often the results are lackluster and you're lucky to get a pinch on the ass. I stopped counting how many of those "Fast & Furious" movies they've spat out over the last decade, but someone definitely needs to put a cork in their ass before the shit starts covering the entire screen. Not so long ago we could count on a new "Saw" film to come out every Halloween, each one getting progressively worse. Sequels are tough because there's only so many ways you can skin a cat (11 by our last count), and the source material can only carry a story so far. After a few duds in the series, "Insidious: The Red Door" seems to realize its limitations, and focuses more on a conclusion rather than insinuating more sequels.
It's nine years later and a lot has changed for Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson) and his family. His mother just passed, his wife Renai (Rose Byrne) has divorced him, and his children Dalton (Ty Simpkins) and Foster (Andrew Astor) barely speak to him. As Josh slowly tries to mend broken fences, he realizes it's impossible without first finding out what's going on in that big brain of his, and seeks help from doctors and schedules the appropriate tests.
Meanwhile, Dalton is off to college to pursue his love of art, and his loathing of parties. Dalton accidentally gets roomed with a girl named Chris (Sinclair Daniel), and the two strike up a friendship quickly, thanks to Chris's quirky personality. The two decide to head to a frat party, and Dalton realizes he's suddenly being stalked by the spirit of one of the frat members who famously met a grizzly fate. While strange things are happening to Dalton, the same can be said for Josh, as the two seem to be having out of body experiences they can't control.
As the audience knows, there was a door between their world and 'The Further' that was supposed to be locked forever, but that door has been opened, and the father and son must find a way to close it before Dalton is lost forever as he almost was nine years earlier. Who holds the key, and most importantly, can the red door be closed forever, or will it always be there just waiting to be opened? If Josh and Dalton are to both survive, they'll need to come up with a plan, and perhaps get some help from an unlikely source.
"Insidious: The Red Door" feels as though it should have been the second sequel to the franchise, and everything would have been better for it. Simply forget the third and fourth installments and put this film in their place, and I think you have a pretty good story to run with. One thing is for certain, the ending of this film finally brings closure, and I can only hope it stays true to its word, as this story has definitely run its course, and there's nothing left to skin off this cat.
Madness Meter: 5.9/10
NB
