The Insidious Franchise Revisited (And Ranking)
The Insidious franchise continues with the upcoming entry, Insidious: Out of the Further which hits theaters later this month. Now six films in, what we know about the Further has only deepened. In the new film, we will be leaving the Lambert family behind and meeting a new one. Before getting into this new chapter of Further lore and Elise shenanigans, let's take a look back at the franchise as a whole.
I will also be ranking the individual films, according to my ratings after doing a recent rewatch.
- Insidious (2011) Ranking: #1
Directed by James Wan and written by Leigh Whannell, Insidious explored what happens when a boy using astral projection, travels a little too far from home. While Insidious is the first film in the franchise, after watching the rest of the films, this one is third in the chronological timeline of the events that take place.
When Dalton (Ty Simpkins) doesn't wake up one night, the doctors think he just slipped into a coma after falling off a ladder the day before. When Dalton's comatose body is brought back home, his mother, Renai (Rose Byrne), and his siblings start having experiences in the house that cause her to want to move. Not long after Josh (Patrick Wilson) moves his family out, the occurrences start back up and Josh's mom, Lorraine, comes clean about Josh's past. You see, Josh could also astral project and an old woman was following him back from the Further. Lorraine (Barbara Hershey) then decides to reach out to Elise (Lin Shaye) to keep Josh from going back into the Further and make him forget he was ever able to astral project. Now aware of his past, Elise comes in, like the queen she is, and helps Josh go into the Further to save Dalton, who is now being held captive by the Red Faced demon that wants Dalton's body.
So what exactly is the Further? At this point in the franchise, we know that it is a purgatory realm filled with tortured souls that have died. These souls are drawn to empty vessels like Dalton's and want to use their bodies to re-enter the physical world. Other than that, we don't know much about how this place works. As we get into the later films, that lore begins to expand.
Insidious ends with both Josh and Dalton waking up, but things are amiss with Josh. It seems the old woman attached herself to his body and Josh was left behind in the Further. When Elise takes a photo of Josh, he attacks her and strangles her to death (which ultimately was a huge mistake on Whannell's part).
Insidious remains one of the best modern horror films for a reason. Wan's genius is clear in each frame, camera movement and scares. He was the right director for Whannell's script, which is simple, yet smart with its choices.
2. Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) Ranking: #3
Also directed by James Wan and written by Leigh Whannell, Chapter 2 picks up where the first film left off. Renai suspects that there is something off with Josh, but she can't really prove it. Elise's team of paranormal experts, Tucker (Angus Sampson) and Specs (Leigh Whannell), team up with Lorraine to figure out exactly what happened with Josh back in 1986 in hopes of figuring out what happened to Elise. Josh, Renai and the kids move into Lorraine's house but the supernatural occurrences que back up, with Renai enduring the brunt of what's happening around them.
While watching a videotape of Elise with young Josh, Tucker and Specs realize that he is talking to the older version of Josh from the Further. When Lorraine sees this, she realizes that Josh did not make it back after all and the three work to figure out who it is that actually came back in Josh's body. After investigating Lorraine's past, they soon find out that there was an old man dying on the ward that Lorraine worked on when she was a nurse and Josh came into contact with him. That man was Parker Crane, a serial killer who was dressed in a black wedding gown. We witness Parker in Josh's body, trying to avoid being discovered while also assimilating into his life. But his time is running out. His mother, Mother Mortis, compels him to kill in order to stay inside Josh's body.
The film plays out with Josh trying to call out to Renai, Lorraine, Tucker and Specs connecting with Elise's colleague, Carl, and Dalton having to go back into the Further to help Elise save Josh before Parker kills the entire family. What we learn about the Further this time is that time works differently, as Josh was able to move freely throughout different points in time there. The film ends with Tucker and Specs visiting a new family and Elise being able to connect with a young girl there who was like Dalton and Josh.
Whannell's script hinders the storytelling here. There are a lot of moving pieces. What made the first film so exceptional, is its simplicity. But Wan's direction doesn't falter, it's still evident why he's a master of horror.
3. Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015) Ranking #2
Now written and directed by Leigh Whannell, Insidious: Chapter 3 not only introduces new characters, Lin Shaye is left to carry this one on her back. Whannell also goes back to a much more straightforward, simplistic story with this entry. Serving as a prequel to Insidious, Chapter 3 follows Quinn Brenner (Stefanie Scott). She visits Elise after trying to contact her mother, who has passed away, on her own and something has been contacting her back. Elise warns her that whatever is contacting her isn't her mother and not do it again. But it wouldn't be a horror movie if she listened to that warning.
When Quinn is leaving a recital, she's distracted by a figure waving at her in the street, and she's hit by a car. Back at home, now wheelchair bound after breaking both of her legs, Quinn begins experiencing attacks from the same man from the street. Desperate to help his daughter, Sean (Dermot Mulroney) goes back to Elise. But she's adamant about staying far away from the Further after having a violent encounter with the woman in black from the first film. This is where we see more pieces from the earlier films come together. Sean calls in Tucker and Specs, and they end up collaborating with Elise to go back into the Further. Using a letter left by her mother, Elise helps Quinn fight back against the man who had her restrained in the Further. The film ends with Elise, Tucker and Specs deciding to work together going forward. When Elise returns home, she's faced with the Red Faced demon.
Whannell has spoken up about wanting to remain involved with these films so he can make sure the story stays on track. I do appreciate how he continued to connect each individual film with the others in some way, tethering the timeline and staying focused on how these characters and events are a part of something bigger. This also served as the directorial debut for Whannell, establishing Elise as not just superhero of the paranormal, but a broken soul just wanting to connect to someone on the other side.
4. Insidious: The Last Key (2018) Ranking #4
New to the franchise, The Last Key is directed by Adam Robitel (Escape Room, The Taking of Deborah Logan). Back to the writing table, Leigh Whannell gives us another prequel to Insidious that also serves as a sequel to Chapter 3. Lin Shaye returns as our main focus of this story, going back to her childhood home to uncover the truth about her family and provide more insight into why she does the work that she does.
The film opens with a look back at Elise as a child. Her father, Gerald (Josh Stewart) is completely against the things that happen in his house because of Elise's gift. On the other hand, her mother, Audrey (Tessa Ferrer) is more understanding and supportive. But being set in the 1950s, Gerald's word was law so when he was beating Elise into saying she wasn't seeing things and locked her in the basement, there was nothing that Audrey could do. While in the basement, Elise is manipulated by the Keyface Demon, and she opens a red door, which ultimately leads to the death of her mother.
In present day, Elise gets a call from Ted Garza (Kirk Acevedo) to return to her childhood home to help him cleanse it of whatever was haunting the home he was now living in. While Elise, Tucker and Specs investigate, it's revealed that Ted was harboring a secret. They found a woman chained up in the basement and Elise soon discovered that her father had also done the same thing before, as they were being controlled by the Keyface Demon.
Reuniting with her brother Christian (Bruce Davison), one of her nieces is taken into the Further and held hostage by Keyface. Elise's other niece, Imogen (Kit Goldsmith) has abilities like hers, and she's able to go into the Further to help Elise and her sister. The two work together, alongside Audrey's spirit, to kill Keyface. When they try to leave, they open a door and see young Dalton, and left the door to his realm open. The film ends with Elise getting the call from Lorraine to come help Dalton.
The Last Key, originally supposed to be the ending chapter of this franchise, is the weakest film in the timeline. Even with Lin Shaye's Elise being the main character here, it isn't enough to help this stand on strong legs.
5. Insidious: The Red Door (2023) Ranking #5
It's not the end after all. It was announced in 2020 that there would be another entry in the Insidious lineup, this time with Patrick Wilson at the helm as director and Scott Teems (Halloween Kills, The Exorcist: Believer) as writer.
The film picks up nine years after the events of the second film, Insidious: Chapter 2. Lorraine has passed away, Josh and Renai are divorced, and Dalton (played by young Dalton Ty Simpkins) is about to head off to college. With suppressed memories of the Further, Elise and their past experiences, Josh and Dalton are blind to small occurrences happening around them. In his art class, Dalton's teacher uses a technique to help her students connect with what they are about to create and inadvertently opens the door that was closed in Dalton's mind years before.
While at a frat party with his new friend Chris (Sinclair Daniel), Dalton has an interaction with a boy who died in the house and that gets Dalton interested in finding out more about his abilities. He finds a video about astral projection online with Tucker and Specs, and another video about the Further by Elise. Back at home, Josh is on a mission to find out how to clear his head and focus on what's important in his life, like his family. He's also having experiences, one at his house with his father's spirit and one while inside an MRI machine (new fear unlocked!). Both of these lead him back to Renai for help. She then opens up about what happened before and the abilities that he and Dalton share.
Dalton reaches a point where he remembers the Further and the fact that Josh tried to kill them, but he doesn't quite have all the pieces as he doesn't remember his actual father was trapped at the time. So when Dalton is trapped, yet again, by the Red Faced demon and Josh comes to save him, he's hesitant to trust him. Once the two are outside of the red door, Josh holds it closed to allow Dalton to escape. When Dalton is back in the physical world, he paints over the red door, trapping the demon inside so Josh can make it back and leave the demon trapped into the Further for good. The film ends with Renai and Josh agreeing to do a family dinner together, and Josh seeing Elise, though he doesn't remember her. In a post credit scene, the light above the red door flickers on letting us know there is more to come.
The Red Door lacks the depth of the earlier films. It feels rushed and doesn't truly add to the lore of the Further. The Red Faced demon is one of the scariest horror movie villains in the first film yet here, he's unable to do much of anything, not even be scary. What we get is a watered down version of Insidious and it serves as a pointless entry in the franchise.
So what is the next movie about?
Out of the Further is directed by Jacob Chase (Come Play) and co written by Chase alongside David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (Orphan, The Conjuring: Last Rites). We will be leaving the Lambert family behind and focusing on a mom named Gemma (Amelia Eve) who want to raise her daughter in the home she grew up in. She soon finds out she is able to astral project into the Further, but when she returns to the physical world, she's able to bring demons back with her. Lin Shaye will return to her role as Elise.
Are you looking forward to this next entry or are you ready to see this franchise end? What is your current ranking for the Insidious films?