Insidious 5: James Wan Makes Big Comparison for Patrick Wilson’s New Sequel

Filmmaker James Wan has a lot of franchises under his belt, making him one of the biggest names in horror thanks to his ability to kickstart billion-dollar movie series from nothing. Saw, The Conjuring, and Insidious are all staples of the genre thanks to his work, and the later of those is finally about to get a new chapter. In a surprise twist, the fifth movie in the Insidious series, titled Insidious: Fear the Dark, will actually see franchise star (and frequent Wan-collaborator) Patrick Wilson return both in front of and behind the camera. Speaking in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Wan offered a tease for Wilson’s directorial debut, comparing him to another exciting name.

“Well, we all love Patrick. I’ve done one or two films with that guy,” Wan said, hinting at their six collaborations as director and actor. “But I’m super excited for what Patrick’s doing with Insidious. One of the things I love best about working with Patrick Wilson is that we don’t actually talk about the movie that we are making on set. We geek out about all the movies that we loved growing up, because Patrick and I are roughly of the same generation. We’re just constantly geeking out about John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China and all these movies. Patrick reminds me a little bit of Leigh Whannell in that they are not just actors slash whatever; they are filmmakers as well. They’re film buffs, and being film buffs, they look at acting from the point of view of what the final film will be like. And so that actually helps inform them as filmmakers. So I’m always very excited when people like Leigh Whannell and Patrick Wilson want to jump behind the camera.”

As fans may recall, Whannell began his career as a screenwriter/actor, both writing in and acting in the original Saw movie. He’d go on to pen several sequels, even reprising his role again, while also writing several Insidious movies while also starring as paranormal investigator “Specs.” Whannell made his directorial debut with Insidious: Chapter 3, but made waves with genre fans with his second directorial effort Upgrade, and cementing himself as a major player in the genre with 2020’s remake of The Invisible Man. All that in mind, Wan comparing Patrick Wilson to his other collaborator should prove that the new movie is in good hands.

The Insidious series began with 2010’s original movie, starring Wilson as Josh Lambert and young actor Ty Simpkins as his son Dalton, telling the tale of their family being haunted by an unknown deity. For Insidious: Fear the Dark, the new movie takes place ten years after the first two films, and sees the pair reprising their roles. In the new movie Josh will drop off his son at an idyllic, ivy-covered university. However, Dalton’s college dream becomes a nightmare when the repressed demons of his past suddenly return to haunt them both.

Insidious: Fear the Dark is scheduled to be released in theaters on July 7, 2023.