Makeup, effects, and acting that’ll give you chills
Gory aesthetics paired with a cheesy ending will get you your money’s worth from Insidious playing at Park Cinemas downtown. A young medium being tormented by her past is forced to face the entity at the root of her nightmares. Haunted by her sins, Elise Rainer ( Lin Shayne) and her two sidekicks: Specs (Leigh Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Sampsun) return to her hometown to reunite with her perfidious past. Running into souls she could have saved and lives that should have been, Elise finds the importance of family and facing your fears.
From the deteriorating makeup to special CGI’s to make skin openings and such, the special effects of Insidious are amazing. The Demon’s grotesque skin folds and the snout paired with yellow eyes makes the soul quiver in fear. The pale yellowish skin of Elise’s niece, Melissa ( Spencer Locke), with the throat key hole sparks a morbid curiosity in those that watch. The grotty aesthetic of this horror is something to be in awe of.
Not only does the chilling effects build a creepy scene, but the events leading up to Elise’s return are laced with anxiousness and jumps. How her mother passed, the abuse, the pain that young Elise went through before she left the haunted house of Five Keys stayed with her in all her long years of life-which the demon prayed upon.
It wasn’t until Elise found her family again and was able to call upon them could she defeat the demon; adding a silver-lined spice to the disturbing movie.
The acting was morbidly appropriate for the film; however, Melissa was a little too happy-go-lucky even if she was a home town girl, seemed a bit out of place. Also, Imogen ( Caitlin Gerard) switches from the teen angst mood to optimistic helper a little abruptly. Granted, she did have a cause to help for… it seemed almost out of character.
Despite the ending being cheesy, it did add a bit of a light tone so the audience would not be so depressed nor anxious. Especially for the sequel to be tied back into the first filmand set up for the next one of the franchise.
