Insidious- A Film Review

As a fan of horror movies I am always on the lookout for something genuinely terrifying and not, just, well, stupid. When I saw a trailer for Insidious in the cinema I (like everyone) thought-hey! Darth Maul! but also-I can't wait to see that. When I was in my first year of University I took a film class which among other things fueled my dislike for melodrama and made me change my career path. In any case, I remember vividly and article (I don't know who the author was), that was called "Don't Worry It's Only A  Movie" and the gist was that the reason we can understand movies which basically aren't like our real experiences which flow together and happen consecutively because movies are like dreams, and as the title suggests, we say the same thing about both--It's only a movie/it's only a dream. Following this premise a horror movie should be like a nightmare and nightmares are scary even when you know they are only a dream. So while I was watching Insidious I had to tell myself numerous times that it was just a movie. Insidious had me absolutely terrified, there was a moment where I was on the verge of tears of fear, which has never happened to me before. Unlike horror movies which rely heavily on an onslaught of gruesome images, Insidious focuses on the most frightening thing of all-the unknown. A young family who have recently moved into a new house find strange occurrences happening around them, beginning after their son falls into a coma and the doctors are unable to identify why. The secret to a successful film of any genre is knowing what works and what doesn't. As such Insidious relies heavily on the haunted house genre-a large, creaky old house, a family that is isolated, abrasive music and a grey colour palate.The scary moments were authentically terrifying and thankfully brief, leaving the audience scared and yet the timing was such that as a viewer you had time to calm down before they hit you again. When the reason for the son's coma is revealed- he has gone to the 'futher' a place where tormented souls live and now a demon with an alarming resemblance to Darth Maul  is attempting to take over his body-the film changes pace. However, though the reveal seems like a letdown of some sort, the film nonetheless moves towards it's conclusion fueled by genuine scenes of terror, brief scary images and a lot of fumbling in the dark. I remember my grade 11 teacher commenting that fear of the dark is a basic human fear, everyone is afraid of what they can't see or understand. Insidious is a scary film in the truest sense of the word in that it plays off the audiences fears rather than telling them to be afraid or what to be afraid of.