Insidious

There was quite a bit of talk surrounding Insidious when it first came out (2010, for what it's worth). Suffice to say, I ignored most of it as I don't typically get caught up in horror movies. But this one kept coming like a slow moving train in the distance. The singular light of this train was something I could easily walk away from, so I did. I had friends go see it, then promptly tell me about how I may not be able to handle it. This is most very true.

Then, I went on a couple of dates with this one girl, and she mentioned the movie. She seemed to be in a similar predicament, in not wanting to watch it alone. Well, you can see where this is going, but you should also know that this is me acting here, and we never did end up watching it (I blundered it up well enough, for your information, but that's practically a given as well). So I had this movie sitting around for a couple of years waiting to go, and it seems the mood struck right. I mentioned my horror movie bunker, where I was able to work up enough courage and turn this film on.

I was incredibly impressed. I didn't realize the film was full of great talent, including the beautiful Rose Byrne and the always interesting Patrick Wilson. Apparently the writer, Leigh Whannell, had handy a list of horror movie cliches that he forced himself to avoid, and the result is a fairly original film that worked on many more levels than just cheap thrills. It reminded me of Cabin in the Woods, where horror movie cliches were exploited and turned on their head. Insidious avoids the head on collision of those same cliches, but doesn't bother to poke fun while they pass in the other direction. Insidious pushes through a new path; it may not use entirely new ideas, but it does use those ideas (astral-projection, hauntings, etc) in an entirely positive way. While watching it, I couldn't help but feel like I was watching a classic: it's a movie I could go back to twenty years from now and appreciate in the way that I go back now and appreciate the "classic" horror movies from the seventies and eighties.

This is a genuinely scary film, that when I step back and think about it, keeps pulling me in. The director is able to convey everything required with what seems to be pretty practical effects. The music is full of striking chords. Was I scared? Let's say the bunker did a good job and I didn't have any dreams about apparitions, entities hiding in the shadows, or demons trying to take over my body.