6/10

Leigh Whannell takes the directing reigns from longtime collaborator, James Wan, and instills a shot of adrenaline to a series after a disappointing second offering. This time around, it’s a chilling prequel set years before the haunting of the Lambert family. The film reveals how gifted psychic Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) reluctantly agrees to use her ability to contact the dead in order to help a teenage girl (Stefanie Scott) who has been targeted by a dangerous supernatural entity hell bent on ending her life. While this film doesn’t quite reach the levels of the original “Insidious (2011), it does offer more than enough scary imagery, as well as honest characters to invest the audience in this next branch of the concluding trilogy. Whannell has a nice touch for colorful cinematography, based on his days crafting films like “Saw” and “Paranormal Activity”, but his vision on the land known as The Further in this film gives the backgrounds wonderous shades of blue, representing emptiness among the dead. The movie does have a few cheap jump scares, but i am glad to report that the jump scares are used in the way they should be. Nothing is overdone, and the jumps give you something terrifying to look at in the far shots of the camera. One of my biggest problems with cheap jumps in films is when the director uses them for something pointless like a cat jumping at the screen, or a friend bumping into the main character. This movie has none of that, so i wasn’t as bothered with the cliche troupes in horror films these days. If i had one piece of advice for Leigh however, it would be to let some scenes play on. Many shots in the movie feel like they have been cut too quick when our characters have more to say. It feels a little choppy in the storytelling department and makes me wonder how much additional footage may have been left on the cutting room floor. The movie is led by strong performances from Dermott Mulroney, as well as first time lead actress, Scott, who commands a helpless innocence in a wheelchair that leaves her nearly helpless from the monsters in the shadows trying to get her. I would be leaving out the biggest acting praise if i didn’t mention Shaye’s outstanding third turn. This movie is every bit as much her’s as it is Scott’s, and i think that her emotional depth gives the movie a performance that quite honestly we don’t see in the third installment of a horror franchise. It was nice to see some of her character’s beginnings when it comes to her psychic powers, as well as the untimely loss of her husband. The movie kept me completely on the edge of my seat until the final act when we get a look at The Further. I don’t know what it is about these Insidious films, but the part with this mystical outerworld is always the weak part of the movie for me. In this film, it’s the tongue and cheek lines that give the audience a little too much laughter considering the outstanding stakes that are on the line during these moments. There is also some hokey fighting scenes that look a little ridiculous for the rules that have been set with this world in the first two films. I also would’ve appreciated any kind of info on the main monster in the film. The movie mentions early on that anyone in The Further is there because they died in the apartment complex that Scott and Mulroney live at. It’s almost like the movie forgot to give some details on the most mysterious and terrifying image of this film, and that aspect feels incomplete. All of this is not to say that “Insidious: Chapter 3” isn’t a bad film, quite the opposite actually. I enjoyed it for it’s ability to offer something more than just scares and violence. I enjoyed the movie for it’s devastating view on love and loss. It’s in that aspect where the audience gets the characters it needs to care about any horror film, and that is the biggest victory for this movie. Not as good as the first, but leaps and bounds better than the disappointing second offering in 2013, “Insidious: Chapter 3” is a carefully constructed spookfest that makes me look forward to the next chapter.