Director: Adam Robitel
Distributor: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Duration: 103 minutes
Insidious: The Last Key (Blu-ray) – Movie Review
Insidious: The Last Key is what happens when a director finds himself burning through sequels too fast and might have written himself into a corner because the previous movie clearly states that it’s the end of the series. That’s when you start making movies like this: a prequel sequel. By breaking the continuity of the series, you ascertain yourself new views as viewers who actually know what’s going on are forced to watch the movies in the right order and newcomers are forced to watch the others as they won’t know who is who and why it all even matters.
The first movie in the series was Insidious released in 2010, followed by Insidious: Chapter 2 which saw the light of day in 2013 and finally Insidious: Chapter 3 released in 2015, so the series has spanned over 8 years when looking at the releases. So every 2-3 years one of them would lurk in the shadows. When looking at the movies’ timeline it’s a little more complicated to view them and see them in chronological order. The first movie to watch is Insidious: Chapter 3, then Insidious: The Last Key, followed by Insidious and finally: Insidious: Chapter 2.
The premise of Insidious: The Last Key is quite straightforward. It’s the origin story of Elise Rainier (Linda Shaye). As the movie starts you’ll see that she has powers and that those have consequences. As she communicates with the dead, she might get more than what she’s bargained for. The opening sequence unfolds and the movie cuts to a later date, showing a more aged Elise waking up from a dream depicting that memory. Still reeling from the nightmare the phone rings and as in the other movies, the voice on the other side seeks her aid. Why she even bothers with it, as any sane person being able to mess with the paranormal would do is steer well away from it, becomes obvious as she soon learns that the person on the other side of the line is currently living in her old home. Knowing what happened there, she feels obligated to aid the man as he is strapped for cash, having put his last dime into buying the property.
The movie progresses and soon it becomes apparent that Insidious: The Last Key is more of a paranormal thriller with a semi-normal plot driving the most of the movie, which does give it an interesting twist later on, but is something best not dwelled on too long as it shows the movies’ most glaring mistake. Because of the plot mixing the two, it feels like the director didn’t know which way to turn and thus puts the two elements in the blender and rolled with it. Which is a sad thing, because both premises really show potential but having the director being constrained and still keep the run time of the movie around 90 minutes feels like he has to cut it short, possibly leaving much bigger edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting tension on the wayside.
When it comes to the acting, there really isn’t much to discuss as horror movies don’t really rely on acting. Especially supernatural horror movies like Insidious: The Last Key, which could be given another name, but has been given it because the staple actors are in it, and the previous movies sold well at the box office. Elise Rainier plays the same role in every movie in the series and her shtick is that she’s the righteous fury that will stick up for those who can’t for themselves. When watching the movies this personality trait will sometimes comes across as holier than thou and a little annoying. Her two partners are Tucker (Angus Sampson) and ‘Specs’ (Leigh Whannell), ‘Specs’ being the nerdy type and Tucker being the comic relief. These two characters don’t really add anything noteworthy to the movie.
Jump scares are the staple of this horror movie and many others, seeing as it’s quite easy to do, the movie and its director don’t score any points. The art of making someone feel genuinely uncomfortable without the need of these is something few directors have down pat. Adam Robitel however does not try to go for the genuine scarefest, but for the easy route of making viewers jump in their seat.
Conclusion
Horror movies are something that have existed for ages, and will continue to exist, because there’s something about being able to boast on how many you’ve been able to sit through in one sitting. Insidious: The Last Key is the prequel to the rest of the series and it sets up the characters and their origins quite nicely. The movie has some really cool ideas by mixing things up. The usual ‘horror flick traits’ are added with a twist, making for a rather interesting movie, that might not necessarily stick with the viewer but will make them jump up every once and a while and give Elise a cool origin story. Is the series done and over with now? That’s unknown, but we’ll know in about two years.
Insidious: The Last Key (Blu-ray) - Movie Review,
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