Blumhouse may be shutting the (red) door on Insidious. The fifth — and supposedly final — chapter in the franchise created by James Wan’s SAW collaborator Leigh Whannell creeps into theaters on Friday, and the first reviews are mixed. Insidious: The Red Door is currently sitting at 44% “rotten” on the Tomatometer — better than the last installment, 2018’s Insidious: The Last Key — but below the original 2010 film’s 66% “fresh.” Actor Patrick Wilson’s directorial debut also fared better with critics than 2013’s Insidious: Chapter 2 (38%) but worse than the 2015 prequel Insidious: Chapter 3 (57%).
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In Insidious: The Red Door, the horror franchise’soriginal cast returns for the final chapter of the Lambert family’sterrifying saga. To put their demons to rest once and for all, Josh(Wilson) and a college-aged Dalton (Ty Simpkins) must go deeperinto The Further than ever before, facing their family’s dark past and ahost of new and more horrifying terrors that lurk behind the red door.
But is this one door that should have remained closed? Here’s what critics are saying:
Variety: “A parallel-reality fear zone. Faces in the dark. The return ofrepressed family demons. These are the elements that “Insidious”elevated (and that Ari Aster sprung Hereditary from), but depending ontheir design and execution they can be spooky — or banal — as hell. Fora first-time director, Patrick Wilson doesn’t do a bad job, but he’sworking with tropes that have already been worked to death. It’s time toclose this carnival of souls down.”
Deadline: “The narrative meanders throughsupernatural phenomena that science can’t explain, leading Josh andDalton to search for answers on their own separate journeys. While thefilm does maintain the franchise’s signature eerie atmospheric tone evenwith the directorial change, it drifts frustratingly slow betweenfather and son storylines, leaving viewers to wait for the narratives toconverge. When they finally do, the result is chaotic and bewildering thanks tosloppy editing and a lack of cohesiveness as the story moves all overthe series’ timeline and presents a lot of surface level ideas it has nointentions of expounding upon. The closer the characters get to thetruth, and consequently death, the more it spirals into confusion andmonotony.”
The Associated Press: “The movie gradually falls apart into incoherence and the use ofjumpscares of shocking images, like creepy dolls in a birdcage, a demonvomiting or circus contortionists emerging from sofas … If the Insidious franchise is your jam, by all means go and see theoriginal Fab Four of the Lambert family battle hollow-eyed demons forperhaps the last time. But for everyone else, why not let the past stayin the past?”
The Daily Beast: “Its characters may be desperate to remember the things they’ve willfullysuppressed, but as this dud confirms, some things are best leftforgotten … Insidious: The Red Door grows less chilling as it gets closerto the Further, and Josh and Dalton’s climactic confrontation withunholy forces is almost stunningly limp. At least the maiden two Insidiousmovies tried to concoct a reason for Josh and Dalton’s hauntings; here,on the other hand, their ordeal feels threadbare and scattershot.”
Bloody Disgusting: “The Red Doorisn’t interested in the mythology but instead in examining how itsghosts fractured the family and whether their enduring love can makethem whole again. Wilson reminds audiences why they fell for the Lambertfamily in the first place with a sentimental sequel that tenderly bidsthem farewell. While it doesn’t give a sense of finality to the Furtheror its ghostly inhabitants, it does offer poignant closure to theprotagonists that started it all.”
Insidious: The Red Door is in theaters July 7th.
