Insidious Finally Has a Great Sequel: Out of the Further

Insidious was one of the best horror films of the 2010s. It took the structure of Poltergeist and did great things with it. None of the sequels lived up to it, although only 2023’s Insidious: The Red Door could be considered outright bad.

Good news, everyone!

Insidious: Out of the Further, the sixth entry into the franchise, is somehow the best film since the first. It wisely centers on a new group of characters (Amelia Eve as Gemma, who lives with her young daughter Maya, and dates a fairly generic good-guy-cop named Nick), while sticking with the lore introduced by the original film. And of course, horror icon Lin Shaye is back as dead medium Elsie.

Right off the bat, this one comes off as different. The opening sequence is actually kind of horrifying, showing the traumatic night of Gemma’s mother’s death (which of course comes back into play later). From there, we see Gemma start to lose her ever-loving shit as she starts experiencing waking nightmares and being stalked by a trio of octogenarian motherfuckers who are not undead, but definitely look it.

Insidious films have had some great villains with some dope nicknames (Lipstick-Face, The Mother of Death, The Man Who Can’t Breathe…and Keyface? I guess?), but this is the first to actually have a name: Cyrus Lam. Cyrus was human once, a cult leader actually, and he figured out that ol’ Gemma has the ability to pull things out of The Further (which, if you skipped the first five films, is the name of the undead realm where ghosts and demonic entities dwell…but if you skipped the first five, what the fuck are you doing here?). He decides that little power is pretty nifty, especially when he starts making deals with all of the other horrific entities in The Further to get them out. This part is especially fun, as it introduces a few new creepy dudes as well as gives quick appearances to pretty much all of the creeps from the last five films (the shotgun-toting gal from the first film steals the show here).

All of the Insidious films deliver some good scares, and this one is no different, but it’s the first since 2010 to take a real swing in its final act. In fact, some of the sequels fall apart in the climax, where this one goes BIG. It’s fun, unexpected and wild. The villain gets to chew up some scenery, there’s multiple crazy set pieces and lots of demons. Again, Shotgun Housewife gets to OWN the third act.

Bonus: there is a cute dog in this movie. There is a point where you absolutely think the cute dog is going to die. A lesser movie would have done that. This one does something else, something weird as fuck and kind of hilarious. But it does it right.

I’m not saying I want another ten Insidious sequels, but if this level of creativity can come along again, I’m all for another one or two at least.

**** out of *****