MovieChat Forums > Insidious (2011) Discussion > Good suspense in the first half, fell ap...

Good suspense in the first half, fell apart in the second

posted 10 years ago by rbraasch-858-587682
12 replies | jump to latest

I enjoy horror movies. But I'm very skeptical when it comes to American horror movies, especially horror films that have been released in the past 10-15 years. While I found that this film had a good build-up, it completely fell apart in the second half of the movie - almost gave me the impression the film-makers weren't even trying. So many cliche moments in this movie - the skeptical husband who thinks his wife is crazy, the possessed young child, the earthquake during the scene where they conjured the evil spirits (anyone ever notice how the house always rattles and shakes during scenes in similar movies?) 5/10 is my rating. And that's pretty good actually for my standards.

[–] vinicius-oliveirapaiva 10 years ago

Agree with you. The first half of the movie was pretty great, easily an 8/10 for me. But then, it was all over the place. If I can be perfectly honest though, the ideas were fine and somewhat different from most horror films, but poorly executed.

[–] oknar1977 9 years ago

i totally agree with critic view,
i gave it 4/10

[–] americanadian25 9 years ago

I really like this movie, but I definitely agree that the final 3rd or so is way more hit and miss than the first 2 acts. Not enough to ruin the movie though, for me anyways.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVauip2djLw

[–] bd74 9 years ago

Agreed, the part of the film where Josh enters the Further was just plain stupid. The demon looked like friggin' Darth Maul from The Phantom Menace for crying out loud!

[–] kya1 9 years ago

So many cliche moments in this movie - the skeptical husband who thinks his wife is crazy, the possessed young child, the earthquake during the scene where they conjured the evil spirits (anyone ever notice how the house always rattles and shakes during scenes in similar movies?)

I mentioned all the cliches to my pal as well, creaky door, someone threatening a baby, creepy music-box type old fashioned music, spooky attic, weird noises, baby monitor picking up eerie voices.... it goes on and on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAIJ3Rh5Qxs

[–] skywalkr_00 9 years ago

Same here.After all these years,i managed to watch this. Bleh ,won't even bother with 2nd or 3rd part.

[–] raf-33 9 years ago

The movie becomes something of a comedy the moment Lin Shaye turns up at the door, of all the people they could have cast as a psychic they chose the Farrelly Brothers favourite crude old lady. How can a movie that started off pretty sinister just turn in to a complete farce? And get 6.8 score while doing it.

I'm giving up on IMDb ratings, they seem to be ornamental these days.

Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived. -Isaac Asimov

[–] ElectricWarlock 9 years ago

I thought Lin Shaye gave an excellent performance. I think that it shows she is a great actress and has good range. She can be silly and crude in a raunchy comedy as well as dark and serious in a horror movie and many other things in between. The very thing you criticize it for is what I think made it great. I give it an 8/10 and consider it one of my favorite new horror movies.

[–] surgecess 8 years ago

Yes sir, I thought Lin Shaye was wonderful in this film, I just love her!

__________
"Angels to some, demons to others..... Now you must come with us!"

[–] Kawada_Kira 8 years ago

Agree, I thought she was excellent in this movie. I don't see how anyone could complain about her. She did a good job.

[–] Kawada_Kira 8 years ago

the skeptical husband who thinks his wife is crazy

I think you're overstating it. He actually seemed a lot more readily accepting of what was going on than the "skeptical husband" characters usually are. Note how quickly he agreed to move house. He wouldn't do that if he didn't believe her.

I do agree that the movie declined a bit in some ways toward the end, but I don't think it completely fell apart. The main problem, I think, was that they overexposed the demon. In horror movies, when it comes to visuals, less is more. He became less scary once we saw him so much. However, there were still a lot of positive aspects, and I think this movie was much more original than most American horror movies are in recent years. The scene in the Further with the doll-like people and the murder and those psycho smiles, that was super creepy and well-done IMO. Most of the ghosts were too. Like the old lady, and the guy on the balcony. I think this movie had really great atmosphere and I was genuinely scared at a lot of parts.

The movie also had fewer empty jump scares than most horrors do now. I give the movie points just for not having the absolutely ridiculous "tension builds up, you know someone's there, then BOOM someone touches your shoulder but, oh, it's just your husband". I hate that cliche with a passion and I was relieved that I finally found a horror movie that doesn't have it.