Insidious

krudler

Anyone heard about this? scariest movie in years apparently, and its a pg-13 rating? no blood, no gore, just good old fashioned suspense and scares:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1YbOMDI59k

reading some of the reviews/comments on imdb and the like people arent expecting it to be as frightening as it is, looking forward to it.

Basq

Hmmm.. never heard of it.

It's directed by James Wan (of the original 'Saw' and 'Dead Silence' fame).

Who's calling it the "scariest movie in years" if you mind me asking.. as it's getting pretty lukewarm reviews from critics (Metacritic, RT) although audience / user-reviews on both RT and Metacritics seem to rank it quite highly.

Could be good though alright.

The genre sites are giving it glowing reviews, think the fact that it's a horror film not reliant upon buckets of blood and gore is really impressing.

I'm a big fan of Wan and Whannell who have made some of the best genre films of the past decade, the original Saw remains a classic, reliant as it is upon building suspense rather than simple gore effects. Dead Silence is just creepy as hell, I watched it again recently and it just works so well, the use of sound is absolutely brilliant. Death Sentence, again I love it. It's just an honest to God balls to the walls 70s revenge film and all the better for it, best I've seen Bacon in years and the car park chase is truly one of cinemas all time greats.

I should add that James Wan is one of the nicest people you will ever speak, to a true gent.

faceman

I thought the trailer was great until I read recently about the PG13 rating. I get the feeling the trailer might just have been really well cut

krudler

faceman wrote: »

I thought the trailer was great until I read recently about the PG13 rating. I get the feeling the trailer might just have been really well cut

Dont think the rating will have anything to do with it, Poltergeist is extremely tame by todays standards but still has a few jumpy moments, that bloody clown...

looking at the imdb message boards (i know i know) people arent expecting it to be as scary as it is given the rating.

crazygeryy

i like rose byrne shes a good actress.looks good to me.

JP Liz V1

13 million opening weekend and no. 3 in US box office

Movie Poster

pixelburp

It seems to be one of those movies with the potential of being a sleeper hit; from what I can gather it's getting a lot of praise for being an old-school horror movie, relying on classic scare tactics than 18-cert blood. On that alone I'm tempted to see it.

Oh and Poltergeist still gives me the willies. That and The Fog ... in fact the late 70s / earlt 80s really were the high point for classic horror

faceman

1408 was another PG13 "horror" and it was weak to say the least. Doesnt inspire me here!

Basq

faceman wrote: »

1408 was another PG13 "horror" and it was weak to say the least. Doesnt inspire me here!

Well I personally thought '1408' was far better than a lot of horrors as of late. I can't be alone in that opinion, can I?

pixelburp

I've never seen 1408, but I can't imagine it would be hard to top the poll; I've tried to give it some thought, but I can't honestly remember the last "proper" horror film that wasn't either a teen slasher movie, a gory schlock-fest, or both. Even when a movie shows signs of veering towards old-school horror, it ends up turning back towards splattering the blood around (eg, The Crazies; Daybreakers)

humanji

Basq wrote: »

Well I personally thought '1408' was far better than a lot of horrors as of late. I can't be alone in that opinion, can I?

I'd agree with that. It had it's faults, but I thought it was well acted and put together and had a genuine helpless horror feel to it.

If Insidious follows in PA's footsteps or is from the creators then that'll just encourage me a little more.

It's pretty much Paranormal Activity 3. Better put together, but weaker plot and the ending will be a surprise to nobody.

Catcher7791

http://www.cineworld.ie/cinemas/75?film=4309&period=advance#show

As well as the Q&A, Wan and Whannell are doing a signing in Forbidden Planet between 5.30 and 6.30 next Thursday (14/4).

Skerries

just watched, won't be able to sleep now
very surprised to see its only pg-13 after watching it as it is shít ass scary
its a kind of a cross between Poltergeist and Paranormal Activity
i genuinely got a shiver down my spine at one of the early scenes
it builds up the tension nicely and then keeps hitting you with chilling moments
the acting was very good and the music is very much old school and may have been overused a bit with jangly violins
if you didn't see them use a mobile phone it would be hard to date the film as everything is generic looking and i think that was intentional to give it an older feel
the last third starts to fall apart and get a tad ridiculous but the film has done its work up to that point so just go with it

Professional Griefer

Skerries wrote: »

just watched, won't be able to sleep now
very surprised to see its only pg-13 after watching it as it is shít ass scary
its a kind of a cross between Poltergeist and Paranormal Activity
i genuinely got a shiver down my spine at one of the early scenes
it builds up the tension nicely and then keeps hitting you with chilling moments
the acting was very good and the music is very much old school and may have been overused a bit with jangly violins
if you didn't see them use a mobile phone it would be hard to date the film as everything is generic looking and i think that was intentional to give it an older feel
the last third starts to fall apart and get a tad ridiculous but the film has done its work up to that point so just go with it

Completely agree, the ending parts wrecked it for me, coulda been so much but for that final third. You can tell it was made by the same people as Paranormal Activity, same kinda feel to it.

Its a decent enough movie, nothing too scary ever throughout it, but just can't forgive the final part to the movie, wrecked it for me, it could have been so much better in many ways.

Regardless, decent enough movie, worth a watch if love these kinda movies.

candy-gal1

Going to see this tonight, sounds good from reviews here anyway, hope its not too freaky though

chin_grin

Heading to see this too. I hate going to see horrors in the cinema cos I jump like a motherf*cker! But isn't the rating 16's?

krudler

chin_grin wrote: »

Heading to see this too. I hate going to see horrors in the cinema cos I jump like a motherf*cker! But isn't the rating is 16's?

Get ready to jump, a lot. the 16's rating is purely because there's no gore, doesnt mean it isnt pant sh1ttingly scary throughout though.

chin_grin

krudler wrote: »

Get ready to jump, a lot. the 16's rating is purely because there's no gore, doesnt mean it isnt pant sh1ttingly scary throughout though.

F*ck.

Although I did enjoy Paranormal Activity 1 and 2 and they were ok...............<cof>.

krudler

chin_grin wrote: »

F*ck.

Although I did enjoy Paranormal Activity 1 and 2 and they were ok...............<cof>.

It does rely on the "shrieky violin" thing to signal scares too much (a pet hate of mine) but they come out of nowhere, the dinner table scene, I'd seen the trailer, I knew it was coming, I still jumped..

I'd like to see it with an audience actually to watch peoples reactions, I wouldnt be surprised if they used the "nightvision of a cinema audience screaming" marketing tool for ths.

chin_grin

[QUOTE=krudler;71944941]It does rely on the "shrieky violin" thing to signal scares too much (a pet hate of mine) but they come out of nowhere, the dinner table scene, I'd seen the trailer, I knew it was coming, I still jumped..

I'd like to see it with an audience actually to watch peoples reactions, I wouldnt be surprised if they used the "nightvision of a cinema audience screaming" marketing tool for ths.[/QUOTE]

I hate that technique too. It's so cheap, but still effective. You jump, but then feel angry for doing so.

Watched one of those nightvision-audience-reaction trailers to this. Spotted some guy just watching normally while everyone around him were having a sh*t-fit, brilliant!

krudler

I've said it a million times, silence is THE most effective way to scare people, adding scary music ruins it. One thing that made me jump the most in a movie was the scene in The Exorcist when Fr Karras is talking to Regan for the first time and the bedside drawer opens, its simple, its brilliant because it comes out of nowhere and all it is is the sound of the door suddenly sliding open, ad a shrieky "reeeee!" effect to it= not jumpy in the slightest. cheap scares do nothing for me its the ones that come out of nowhere that work the best.

chin_grin

krudler wrote: »

I've said it a million times, silence is THE most effective way to scare people, adding scary music ruins it. One thing that made me jump the most in a movie was the scene in The Exorcist when Fr Karras is talking to Regan for the first time and the bedside drawer opens, its simple, its brilliant because it comes out of nowhere and all it is is the sound of the door suddenly sliding open, ad a shrieky "reeeee!" effect to it= not jumpy in the slightest. cheap scares do nothing for me its the ones that come out of nowhere that work the best.

Sorry for hi-jacking this thread, but have you watched the BBC documentary The History of Horror? I'd highly recommend it.

But yeah, Insidious...................I'll post back when I've watched it. :pac:

EDIT: Just back from seeing it in Dundrum.

Initial reaction (or maybe it's my nerdy mind) is that it's heavily borrowed from themes mainly in video games.

For instance the

mask she uses reminded me of Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear Solid. The Further reminded me of the "other world" in Silent Hill and the soundtrack was very reminiscent of Dead Space (the violins).

My mind is still trying to process the film as a whole. First half had excellent pacing and tension, but that was up when we were greeted with

Darth Maul trying to infest the child

. Some of the jumps are very well timed and I never felt cheated.

If I could remove or even reshoot one scene from it,

it would be when he finds his son

. Was very tacky and reeked of the levity that we're used to in Ghostbusters/Beetle Juice.

Actually the whole

"travelling through the house/further" sequence annoyed me. It felt like a Marilyn Manson video (which is what I felt the wife doing the ironing looked like).

I'm sure it says a lot about me, but the scene that really stuck out was

during the seance when the spirits were talking to/through her and yer man stopped talking because he was writing some horrible stuff down.

At the moment I think I bought in to the hype, but maybe when the dust settles then I'll have a better grasp on what I've just sat through.

Dublinstiofán

I saw it this afternoon. I thought it was brilliant. My brother had a pain in his chest after watching it because he was on edge for the whole thing.

I'd see it again and there are very few films i'd say that about.

Highly recommended! :cool:

chin_grin

Did anyone else notice the drawing of Jigsaw on the blackboard?

I was about to spoiler that, but then thought.........."why?". :pac:

candy-gal1

Saw this last night, have to say it was one of the best horrors ive seen in a long time

No gore or shock horror just good stick in you head way after the movie creepy fun!

liah

Watched this last night. Bizarre movie, to say the least.

The first half just felt like Paranormal Activity's cousin; same premise, same plot (ish), different film style (which, in some places, was a nice homage to some classic films).

I get that it was trying to be 'classic' horror brought into our time, but it just didn't work for it at all, imho. I found none of it scary, moreso ridiculous - after

the gas mask

was put on I had to watch through my fingers as I was just in a facepalm for the rest of the film. It was like it had no real idea what to do with itself - it wanted to be funny (

the 'ghostbuster' guys

), it wanted to be classic, it wanted to be scary, it wanted to be serious, it wanted to be silly, it wanted to be horror, it wanted to be sci-fi, it wanted to be comedy - it was just completely all over the place, there was no consistency, not even in cinematography - the first half was beautiful, the second half looked like a bad 80s Stephen King film. The script wasn't exactly genius, either. Rose Byrne's acting was good but the rest of them left me completely cold. I won't even mention the general 'ghost' sequences.. And

hereditary Astral Projection

to save the day? Just.. come on! The whole thing just seemed ridiculous.

I just don't know what to make of it. Probably not going to bother watching it again, anyway.

crazygeryy

i saw it and i thought it was very good and scary too, some great frights in it.but your right the last 20 mins were a bit far fetched.but i still would recommend people to go see it.its so good to see a horror movie not relying on gore ie saw and every other horror released last year.

again some really freaky bits in it.

pookie82

chin_grin wrote: »

Did anyone else notice the drawing of Jigsaw on the blackboard?

I was about to spoiler that, but then thought.........."why?". :pac:

James Wan's NAME was actually on the board!! It was all a bit silly.

I really enjoyed the movie for its jumpy moments, especially in the first half. Totally agree that it fell apart towards the end, particularly in terms of losing the cinematography of the opening scenes and just the general plot.

But unless you're terribly bothered about how rational a film is while it's scaring you, it's definitely worth a look for horror fans.

jaykhunter

Hey guys. I don't wanna sift thru posts since i don't want spoilers but how is this film. I love the SAW films, how does it stack up, what movie would u relate it to? Worth my 10 bucks?

chin_grin

pookie82 wrote: »

James Wan's NAME was actually on the board!! It was all a bit silly.

No, never saw his name. Saw the drawing of jigsaw though.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1591095/movieconnections

In a shot in which Josh is sitting at his desk in the empty classroom, a drawing of "Jigsaw" from the Saw movies is plainly visible over Josh's right shoulder. Director James Wan also wrote the story for and directed the first Saw movie.

Goldstein

jaykhunter wrote: »

Hey guys. I don't wanna sift thru posts since i don't want spoilers but how is this film. I love the SAW films, how does it stack up, what movie would u relate it to? Worth my 10 bucks?

It's a very diferent movie to Saw (The first one). Have to give them credit for attempting to make a real scary movie without the route one gorefest we get from 99% of the horror genre for the last few years.

And there is one moment of absolute scare-gold in it that is up there with the best you'll ever see. I believe my exact words at the time were "Jesus, fúck!". That glimpse of brilliance alone is worth the price for me as it's so rare these days.

Enjoyable enough buildup too but ultimately it falls into the trap of trying to over explain everything and shows way too much in the final third (Not very successfully or believeably) which dispels the sense of unease/dread. From just after the halfway point it's on a downward spiral that eventually descends into a predictable comedy/nonsense/fantasy tangle by which time all sense of horror or dread has completely vanished. Ambiguity should be a friend of these movies, too often it's perceived as an enemy.

I didn't find it as immersive as the Paranormal Activity movies nor the danger quite as palpable. Rose Byrne carries the rest of the cast by herself as pretty much everyone else is a cardboard cutout dull caricature that are hard to really engage with or believe. There are a couple of other interesting and promising horror ideas throughout, but on reflection most of those could have been executed more effectively to intensify the scariness and suspense of those scenes.

In a word: Almost.
But, a good effort at making a proper horror movie for the first two-thirds and you will remember and enjoy that scene for some time to come.

Raekwon

^^^ My thoughts exactly!

The first two thirds were everything I wanted this film to be but he final third was a huge anticlimax IMO and in a way unravelled all of the tension and build-up that had come before it.

roboshatner

His name was not on it.

It was just a drawing of the puppet.

pookie82 wrote: »

James Wan's NAME was actually on the board!! It was all a bit silly.

I really enjoyed the movie for its jumpy moments, especially in the first half. Totally agree that it fell apart towards the end, particularly in terms of losing the cinematography of the opening scenes and just the general plot.

But unless you're terribly bothered about how rational a film is while it's scaring you, it's definitely worth a look for horror fans.

roboshatner

Its not a bad film at all worth the watch but its no poltergeist by far.

chin_grin

Goldstein wrote: »

It's a very diferent movie to Saw (The first one). Have to give them credit for attempting to make a real scary movie without the route one gorefest we get from 99% of the horror genre for the last few years.

And there is one moment of absolute scare-gold in it that is up there with the best you'll ever see. I believe my exact words at the time were "Jesus, fúck!". That glimpse of brilliance alone is worth the price for me as it's so rare these days.

Enjoyable enough buildup too but ultimately it falls into the trap of trying to over explain everything and shows way too much in the final third (Not very successfully or believeably) which dispels the sense of unease/dread. From just after the halfway point it's on a downward spiral that eventually descends into a predictable comedy/nonsense/fantasy tangle by which time all sense of horror or dread has completely vanished. Ambiguity should be a friend of these movies, too often it's perceived as an enemy.

I didn't find it as immersive as the Paranormal Activity movies nor the danger quite as palpable. Rose Byrne carries the rest of the cast by herself as pretty much everyone else is a cardboard cutout dull caricature that are hard to really engage with or believe. There are a couple of other interesting and promising horror ideas throughout, but on reflection most of those could have been executed more effectively to intensify the scariness and suspense of those scenes.

In a word: Almost.
But, a good effort at making a proper horror movie for the first two-thirds and you will remember and enjoy that scene for some time to come.

Great review, and I agree that it went downhill after the

ability to astral project running in the family

speech.

My nitpick was that it borrowed it's ideas from a lot of other sources (as I mentioned above).

The only shocks that stuck out for me were:

The man pacing outside the window and then suddenly appears inside.
The figure behind the veils in the baby's room.

Even the scare in the trailer didn't really 'get' me.

(Where Darth Maul appears behind yer man).

But yeah, great start terrible end.

skylight1987

the scarier the film is reported to be the more i love and dread going , but this was meant to be so scary that i went to spoiler . com web site and read a synopsis of the whole film i wish i hadnt cause the end is ...........

hilloftara

went to see it last nite,now i love horror and scary.i was a bit dissappointed,even though the rest of the audience were screaming with fright,i was a bit bored,it is worth watching the storyline was very good who ever wrote it has a great imagination

faceman

Watched it last night. "Darth Maul Vs Potergeist in the Bioshock Universe".

Enjoyed it though, it had some great creepy moments. The third act is a let down though. Too much explaining, CGI and well, barmyness.

The acting was up to the task and it stayed clear of pedophobia that we are over saturated in with horror.

I loved the pre credit sequence and credits themselves. There was many moments where as said above, silence was order of the day and they stayed clear of too many jump scares.

In saying that the bit where

Darth Maul appears behind Josh when the mother is telling about her dream

and the bit where the

boy? is standing behind the cot

were great bits.

I listened to Mark Kermode's review afterward and I was surprised that he hated it so much. He gave more creedence to Paranormal Activity being scarier!

Raekwon

faceman wrote: »

In saying that the bit where

Darth Maul appears behind Josh when the mother is telling about her dream

and the bit where the

boy? is standing behind the cot

were great bits.

Agreed, although it was a pity that they put these bits in the trailer

jigglywoo

I was asleep for the first 20-30 minutes not the movie's fault, I was just really sleepy. What I did watch was really creepy and a nice change from gorey horrors.

phasers

Saw this earlier on and I'm bewildered to say the least. What actually scared people about it? There didn't seem to be any kind of atmosphere in the film
Although I liked 'tiptoe through the tulips' :pac:

There was NOTHING surprising or original about it, everybody in the cinema was laughing at how stupid it was! The ending was just beyond retarded.

Melion

Honestly, one of the worst movies ive ever seen. Absolutely ridiculous, not one even remotely scary scene in it.

scico rocks

Melion wrote: »

Honestly, one of the worst movies ive ever seen. Absolutely ridiculous, not one even remotely scary scene in it.

+1. Just shows how important marketing is. Rubbish film.

Playboy

I thought it was great fun. Lots of jumps .. didnt take itself too seriously and some genuine creepy bits. Not perfect but better than 90% of horrors released these days.

El Horseboxo

As echoed earlier. It was good up until maybe the final 30 minutes and it just got ridiculous. Too much random stuff going on just for the sake of it.

Zero-Cool

I thought it was a great throwback to 80's horror anyway and thoroughly enjoyed but F*CK YOU STORM CINEMA with your crap service!

Anyway, ya the baddies were cheesy but it was really refreshing to have a haunted house horror that didn't consist of 'lets put up 50 cameras round the house and see what happens'. Loved the starting and end title screen pounding the huge INSIDIOUS title on the screen.

partyndbs

last scene was soo good but last 20 mins were such a joke. became non scary except for a few jumpy moments.

dr gonzo

krudler wrote: »

no blood, no gore, just good old fashioned suspense and scares

I dont like horrors generally but ive been saying horror films are gonna start shifting back towards terror over gore soon as people get bored and this sounds like it. Might not be good but at least atmosphere and tension is back rather then just buckets of corn syrup and red food dye.

Basq wrote: »

Well I personally thought '1408' was far better than a lot of horrors as of late. I can't be alone in that opinion, can I?

Nah im with you on that one, not a brilliant film but some good atmos in it.

Hurricane-Dean

Watched it earlier and I just thought meh, even the missus wasn't scared and she jumps at EVERYTHING! Too much random stuff and I was actually laughing at some scenes, ending was ok at best.

Oh and what was with

the demon? He looked like darth maul and freddy krueger had a baby!!

partyndbs

**** off when u see tha guy behind the curtain that is jumpy especially if ur 'missus jumps at everything'