Insidious x 2

You know something, lately everything that has come out that's a "scary" movie has either been a remake, or a Saw continuation.  It's put me in a movie theater funk.

So you can imagine how super-spoOoOooker-pumped I was when I saw the trailer for "Insidious":


SPOOOOOOOOKY!

I didn't even know what the word "Insidious" meant because I'm a moron, fortunately my dear husband is a Language Arts teacher.

Here's the definition of Insidious from my BFF Merriam-Webster:
1
a : awaiting a chance to entrap : treacherous b : harmful but enticing : seductive
2
a : having a gradual and cumulative effect : subtle b of a disease : developing so gradually as to be well established before becoming apparent

In terms of the movie itself...I had no idea what it was about...Haunted house? Haunted Kid? but this one thing I saw scared the shit out of me:

 

Seriously!??! WHAT IS THAT THING?!

It frightened and intrigued me.

So I had to see it.

Jim wanted to see some movie about Abe Lincoln, but when he saw the reviews on IMDB were so great, he caved.

For a horror movie that isn't a remake or a sequel/prequel, a 7.3 on IMDB is pretty incredible!

Anywho, I know there's a notorious commenter out there who hate-Hate-HATES when I spoil, but guess what buddy, I'm going to have to give some really satisfying spoilers.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Ok so there are so many things I really liked about this movie.  In the intro, it shows this cryptic scene and then immediately plays these loud noises (sounding like violent violins) and the title flashes across the screen.  It sets the tone of anxiety and tension.

So this is the happy family (I think there's a little girl not pictured here though):

How sweet.

Basically, the movie starts with them having moved into a new house and it's quite an adjustment. The dad is a teacher who doesn't have any childhood pictures and the mom is an aspiring musician. They have 2 sons, Dalton and Foster...and there's an obnoxious crying baby.

The one kid (Dalton, the one on the left in the picture) has a vivid imagination, and ends up in the creepy attic playing.  He falls and bumps his head, and his parents scold him for playing in the creepy attic.  That night while everyone sleeps, Dalton falls into a "coma" where he doesn't wake up and nobody can figure out why.

But things start getting weird...Scary things start happening...The mom, whose name is prounounced Renee, but is spelled Renai, sees and hears these super scary things, and I was pretty damn scared myself!

Scariest line of the movie: (Foster, the other child, talking to Renai when Dalton was in a coma): "I don't like it when Dalton walks around at night"...AHHHH!! Dalton's in a coma!!

It gets so bad the one night, that they actually move houses!  This, to me, is really unique from other horror movies.  Usually the house is scary as hell and the people stay and try to "fight back" or "face their fears" or they die in the house...I don't think it's very often that they really leave.

So they move, and of course, spoOoOoOky things keep happening.

What is going on?!

So, Barbara Hershey, who plays Josh (the dad)'s mom, explains that she had a vision about Dalton...which is when we see that horrifying image I put up on top..yikes!

And then this flashes on the screen:

Which caused me to jump 3 feet out of my seat...SCARY RED DEMON THING BEHIND THE DAD!

Something happens in Dalton's room and they run in and find the room has been destroyed and Dalton is thrown to the floor...it's time to get help.

This is probably a little comedic relief for the film, because honestly the entire movie is a massive ball of anxiety and fear and wondering what's going to happen to this poor family next...but these two ghostbuster dudes show up with some "homemade" ghost detectors:

They say that they are the filtering system before Elise comes in...so they take a look around and are frightened...

cue Elise:

Elise is great. She's like a really cool, ghost hunting grandma. She sees things and one of the nerdy ghostbuster guys draws what she sees. So, she gets right to work:



After seeing this frightening thing, she tells Renai and Josh that their son has an uncanny ability to leave his body and travel, also called "Astral Projection"

Huh?

This movie takes on a completely different storyline now, because here I am thinking this house is friggin' haunted and this kid is possessed, but no, his spirit is MIA. BUT, because his spirit is not in his body, all of these ghosts want in so they can be alive...including that horrifying demon that has the red face. Oh, and Dalton has traveled into "The Further" which is a realm not meant for the living, and he can't find his way back to his body. yikes!

Now in a wild turn of events, we find out that the reason why Dalton can astrally project so well, is because it is inherited...by...you guessed it! Josh! So Barbara Hershey knew this and Elise because Elise had saved Josh years earlier from a parasitic ghost who tried to take over his body.

We now find out why Josh has never taken pictures, in quite possibly one of the most disturbing and terrifying scenes ever.

So Josh is faced with a difficult decision, to dig up his past as an astral projector and go in and save his son from The Further, or let Dalton rot in limbo and be overtaken by a Demon.

I won't tell you the ending, but it is crazy bizarre and unexpected!

So, MB Blog gives Insidious 2 skeleton thumbs up...I thought it was great, and really a refreshing and new horror film.

Not to mention SpoOoOOktacular!

So SPoOOooktacular, in fact, that we saw it twice!