Insidious

The makers of "Insidious" -- who have, by the way, done a shrewd and scary job of making it -- cite various supernatural titles as inspirations, including "The Exorcist," "Poltergeist," "The Sixth Sense" and the great, supple nightmare "The Innocents."

From such a list we can only glean that director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell admire all sorts of fright, from the blatant to the insidiously subtle.

This film lies at an effective halfway point between those extremes.

New home, new life: That's what the couple played by Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne want from their relocation to a handsome, wood-trimmed bungalow.

With three kids in tow and boxes still unpacked, however, the family slowly realizes that it's playing reluctant host to supernatural guests. First, a few bumps in the night, a missing keepsake or two. Then comes a frightening voice on the baby monitor. And before long, son Dalton, played by Ty Simpkins, suffers an "accident," in air quotes, and lands in an unexplained coma.

The script initially carried the title "The Further," which is the otherworldly realm where the young boy's mind takes him in coma land. (This brings to mind the Groucho/Zeppo exchange from "Horse Feathers": "Anything further, Father?") In a "Poltergeist" nod, the distraught family turns their son-recovery concerns over to a seasoned occult expert, played by Lin Shaye, who travels with a pair of comic-relief paranormal investigators. As the movie progresses, the story grows more and more baroque and horror-movie-y. I prefer its earlier, more indirect and atmospheric scares, but "Insidious" represents a sound compromise of instincts, straddling the need to grab teenagers interested in PG-13 "gotcha!s" and the collaborators' desire to rework an old haunted-house formula, honorably.

One of the producers, Oren Peli, was the young phenom behind the stripped-down, daringly uneventful "Paranormal Activity." I liked both "Paranormal Activity" pictures; for millions of teens jaded and pummeled and clobbered by "Saw" and "Hostel," they were among their first movie lessons in the virtues of slow-burn tension over high-volume viscera. It's a matter of taste, of course. But "Insidious," nicely acted by all and photographed in creepy, cold, under-lit tones by John R. Leonetti and David M. Brewer, sufficiently restrains itself in terms of technique to appeal to an uptight middle-aged fud like me.

 

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"Insidious" Movie Trailer

 

MPAA rating: PG-13 (for thematic material, violence, terror and frightening images, and brief strong language).

Running time: 1:42.

Cast: Patrick Wilson (Josh); Rose Byrne (Renai); Barbara Hershey (Lorraine); Lin Shaye (Elise); Ty Simpkins (Dalton); Andrew Astor (Foster); Angus Sampson (Tucker).

Credits: Directed by James Wan; written by Leigh Whannell; produced by Jason Blum, Steven Schneider and Oren Peli. A FilmDistrict release.

 

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