Why Everyone Needs to See: "Insidious"

The Basics                                  Cast

Genre: Horror (Supernatural/Occult)                               Rose Byrn/Patrick Wilson/Lin Shaye/Ty Simpkins

Director: James Wan

Run Time: 1h42m

"Opening Week: $13,271,464

National Release Date: April 1st, 2011

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Synopsis

Insidious tells the story of the Lambert family. Shortly after moving into a new home, Renae (Rose Byrn) and Josh (Patrick Wilson) Lambert's son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) falls into a deep coma. As it turns out, Dalton's coma cannot be diagnosed or explained in any sort of way, by any tool of modern medicine. As one thing starts to unravel after the other, The Lambert family soon finds themselves facing the reality of Dalton's coma, and its paranormal induction. The Lambert family is pit in a race against time to save their son Dalton, and his soul, from being trapped forever in a supernatural world called "The Further".

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Why Everyone Needs to See Insidious
-Even though "Insidious" is a horror film, there is a lot to be taken from it. So much so that any fan of drama/"rites of passage" stories can enjoy the film just as much.

For most people, the horror genre may seem pretty "cookie cutter", but the reality of horror movies is that the devil is in the details. One of the more prominent features that establishes Insidious apart from other iconic ghost stories, (The Shining, Poltergeist, Paranormal Activity) is that the human characters in the story have a (relatively) great deal of power to hold against the monsters that threaten their son's life.

In The Shining, the hotel itself, and the dreaded Room 237 plays host to what unravels Jack Torrance's sanity. In Poltergeist, the spiritual world crosses over through television static after telecast sign-off, and in Paranormal Activity the ghost is simply an entity all its own. The common thread linking all these stories, is that there is a single (almost omnipresent) paranormal figure following the characters, or that the characters are thrown into with out any choice in the matter. Insidious on the other hand, gives the people a little more charge of the situation. In the world called "The Further", where Dalton Lambert is lost during his comatose state, he wanders amongst the trapped, agonized souls of the dead. He is, what later characters will refer to as, "An Explorer", and a very seasoned one at that. The niche is though, that Dalton has traveled to, and and back again, The Further many a time in his dreams. Dalton was not always lost. What brought Dalton into his coma, among other things, is simply that he "wandered too far, and became lost." The entities within The Further did not seek him out personally from the get go (like Paranormal Activity's spectre). Neither did they become trapped eternally within a hotel. In the case of The Explorers, their body's can be seized by the spirits, giving them a chance to live again. The Further is a world Dalton walked into, all his own, and the spirits seized their opportunity. They didn't just happen. The film later divulges details about Dalton and his family history that further endows The Lamberts' abilities. 

Another enticing aspect of Insidious is its powerful atmosphere and imagery. After being raised on horror movies, there is only so much that can scare you anymore, so personally I look for atmosphere in modern horror movies more than anything.

The imagery and its associated double meanings throughout Insidious, creates powerful, and sometimes moving, metaphors as well as instances of foreshadowing. One of the first and foremost imagery concepts in Insidious, just like in most horror films, is its association with light. These instances are cited by the cinematography, whether it's a camera shot focused on the light/bulbs themselves, or the sense of inclusive lighting (and its diminish) around the characters. One quick example of this, is when Elise is first introduced to the story. As she describes what she sees to her assistant Specs, he begins to sketch it. The final product is a character who will later be referred to as "The Man with Fire on his Face". Even though the demon isn't actually shown outside of the sketch, when Renae goes to look where Specs doodled the demon would be, the light around its location shrouds more and more as the camera pans until it simply disappears; right where he is watching them. 

Another case, is when Elise's associate Tucker explains one of his devices to the Lamberts. The machine is a take on the "ViewMaster" toy, and allows him to detect changes in the UV light spectrum, since the spirits of The Further are virtually invisible to the naked eye.


Other use of Light Imagery in Insidious
-Lightbulbs
The first of these instances where lightbulbs become more than simple props, is when Renae walks into the attic for the first time. Once in the attic, she pulls the switch and the following camera shot is of the bulb (taking up the whole shot) as it turns on. This, in of itself, means nothing until a later shot, that makes the case for the significance of light in Insidious. As she descends the ladder, one of its steps shatters underneath her.

The second, and last time we see the Lamberts in the attic, is when Dalton goes inside it. Dalton is playing on the stairs, a lantern beside him (I'll mention the significance of that later), until the door to the attic opens on its own. Dalton sets down his toys, and carries his lantern with him into the attic. He sets down the lantern, and begins to climb the same ladder Renae had earlier (I might be the only one, but I love dramatic irony). When Dalton crashes down the ladder, the camera work positions itself so that we can NO LONGER SEE the light of his lantern. That's when he hears footsteps, cracking the ground, walking straight at him...
He doesn't wake up the next morning.

What makes this last major account of light bulb metaphors effective, is its reliance on the first point I made. When Renae turned on the attic light, nothing happened to her outside a "jump scare". The final instance of lightbulbs being used as metaphors/foreshadowing is in the middle of the night, just as Renae and Josh are set to retire for the night. As Renae tells Josh about her strange, and rather unsettling day, there is a pounding knock at the door. Since it's a horror movie, we know damn well it isn't the neighbors asking for a cup of sugar. Josh walks downstairs, turning on all the lights on his way down, but when he goes to turn on the front porch light (outside), the bulb shatters. The camera focuses on the bulb's explosion, but only for half a second, highlighting the growing tension in the scene. The camera then goes to Renae, who is headed to her baby's crib when SURPRISE-a spirit is standing directly over her baby. It should be noted that the light set behind the demon is absolutely pitch black.


-The Lantern
The lantern in of itself, is an image regularly associated with exploration (do I have any Legend of Zelda fans out there reading this?). This same metaphor is used in Insidious. As mentioned earlier, it can be assumed Dalton was first "taken" (for lack of a better word) when he was in the dark of the attic. The lantern is featured numerous times in the film as the Lambert family attempts to reach, and save Dalton's soul.

Josh Lambert first stepping into The Further









Josh Lambert, entering the embodiment of the "Lambert Home" within The Further.

This scene in particular, when Elise and the Lamberts try to make contact with Dalton, capitalizes entirely on the essence of light in the movie. Set up around the Lambert family is a series of cameras that flash when contact is made. The cameras flash both when Dalton, and the antagonist make contact, but it can be inferred that for the most part, the Lamberts are happy just to have made contact with Dalton. The icing on top of the cake? That's Dalton's lantern.






Insidious has done something that I, and probably most horror fans, die for. There is more terror in Insidious than meets the eye. At a certain point, it stops becoming a story of demons craving a vessel to possess, and becomes one of a family's trials, tribulations, and the interdevelopment they must process to save their son.

Insidious has constructed a smart, deep, and (as the plot progresses) extensively thorough story arc. The film has a very intelligent grasp on foreshadowing, and counters the terror and blight of The Further, with a heartwarming chemistry between Rose Byrn's, Patrick Wilson's, and child actor Ty Simpkins' characters.
In Stephen King's "Pet Semetary", character Jud Crandall says the iconic line "Sometimes, Dead is better."

But if Insidious is anything, it is proof that Horror is far from dead.