Movie Info
Movie Name: Insidious: The Last Key
Studio: Blumhouse Productions
Genre(s): Horror
Release Date(s): January 5, 2018
MPAA Rating: PG-13
I’m dead but I keep coming back…
Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) remembers the horror of her childhood and leaving it all behind. When she is compelled to return to her old home with Specs (Leigh Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Sampson), Elise finds the old horror which lurked in her house isn’t gone. Elise discovers that her estranged brother Christian (Bruce Davison) and his daughters Imogen (Caitlin Gerard) and Melissa (Spencer Locke) have been pulled into the horror. Elise is about to find out about the evil that has haunted her dreams.
Directed by Adam Robitel, Insidious: The Last Key is a supernatural horror film. The movie follows Insidious: Chapter 3 from 2015 but serves as a prequel to the original 2010 Insidious film. The movie was released to mixed reviews but a strong box office return.
The Insidious movies have been slowly going downhill. Though the first movie wasn’t anything great, the following sequels also have been mixed to “meh”. Insidious: The Last Key is like every other Insidious movie released so far.
Who are the people in your neighborhood?
The film makes the story unnecessarily complex in an attempt to deepen the plot, but it comes off as more confusing than clever. You have Elise’s backstory with her father and the corrupting demon and then you have the primary demon storyline. They are one and the same, but they are presented in a non-linear fashion that doesn’t really enhance the story.
The Insidious series really painted themselves into the corner with Insidious. Lin Shaye’s character was probably the most interesting character in the first movie, but they also killed her in the first movie. This leads to flashbacks and ghosts of this character. If they had decided to use the character as the primary character early on, it would have made the story stronger. Now a few movies in I still find the comic relief team of Tucker (Angus Sampson) and Specs (Leigh Whannell) more of a distraction than humorous…the comedy isn’t strong and it is like an unfunny Ghostbusters. The film also introduces too many characters with Elise’s family played by Bruce Davison, Spencer Locke, and Caitlin Gerard…it seems like one daughter would have served the story better.
Always walk your pets
Once again, the demon design is the high point of the film. I like the Key Face demon and the much creeper Lipstick-Face Demon is only teased (again). The great designs are part of the reason the film is a let-down since I feel that the demons aren’t used to their full potential or creepy nature as the film builds to a conclusion.
Insidious: The Last Key is another rather forgettable entry in a pretty forgettable series. While the first film had its moments (but still has a plot that that is largely cliché), the movies have gone downhill. Insidious: The Last Key promises to not be the last in the series…maybe we’ll finally get the showdown with the Darth Maul Lipstick Demon of the first film…but at this point, do we care?
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