There is perhaps no other higher horror movie pedigree in the last two decades than James Wan, who gave us horror franchises such as Saw, The Conjuring and of course, Insidious. The first Insidious movie came out in 2011 and the franchise is more than a decade old at this point. Insidious The Red Door is a sequel and continuation 10 years in the making, considering that the third and fourth movies (Insidious Chapter 3 and Insidious The Last Key) were prequels to the original Insidious.

Is Insidious The Red Door worth the wait? Read on to find out.

Into The Further

Insidious The Red Door is actor Patrick Wilson’s directorial debut and after all the horror movies he’s starred in, it’s apt that he returns to the franchise that made him a breakout star. With Insidious The Red Door, he proves that he does indeed have the horror chops, but it also proves that he has a long way to go before he can reach the heights of horror maestro James Wan. There are several scary setpieces in the movie where Patrick Wilson utilizes lingering shots that builds tension for some effective jump scares. However, these are far and few in between, and the movie doesn’t do much with its ominous atmosphere. The movie held my attention and is never boring but it all still resulted in an anti-climactic ending.

Let’s get to one of the few things that makes Insidious The Red Door worth watching. It provides closure to the Lambert family, especially Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Dalton (Ty Simpkins), as well as explores an estranged relationship between a father and son. The movie mostly focuses on the two of them for the majority of the runtime, especially Dalton. It’s great when the movie addresses how suppressing memories of extremely traumatic experiences can simply lead to more issues in the future, teaching us that one needs to resolve one’s problems instead of just forgetting about them.

Unfortunately, Insidious The Red Door resolves all this way too cleanly, like it just wants to get it all over with. There’s wasted potential there, as Patrick Wilson chose to mostly play it safe with this movie, and that’s the biggest flaw of the movie. The reason why the first two Insidious movies were so popular is not only due to James Wan’s brilliant horror directing but also how he made those movies feel fresh, thrilling, intense and unpredictable, which in turn made them into one of the most iconic horror franchises in the last decade or so. Insidious The Red Door doesn’t have all of that, and it’s what will make most people forget about this movie in a few years amongst the sea of horror movie releases.

Plus, and perhaps most importantly for Insidious fans, Insidious The Red Door doesn’t really have its own memorable demon antagonist. The first movie had the Red-Faced Demon (who is mostly squandered in Insidious The Red Door), and the second movie had the Bride In Black (which I still consider the scariest one). Even the third and fourth movies had the creepy old man with the breathing apparatus and the key demon, respectively. Insidious The Red Door has a puking ghost and that’s probably the most memorable one in the movie. Fans who go into Insidious The Red Door looking for more lore on the Further and perhaps a terrifying new demon antagonist will be disappointed. The rest of the supporting cast (Rose Byrne, etc.) are reduced to mere cameos and don’t do much of anything.

Not So Insidious

With Insidious The Red Door, Patrick Wilson shows signs that he has the potential to be a good director, but when compared with what James Wan has previously done, it just pales in comparison. It’s not a bad horror movie per se but it’s nowhere near as good as the first two movies. It’s not easy to make a horror movie stand out and be remembered, and Patrick Wilson needs to improve to make himself a better and more distinctive director.

FINAL SCORE: 50/100

We attended an early screener of Insidious The Red Door courtesy of Sony Pictures Malaysia. Insidious The Red Door is slated to premiere in Malaysian cinemas on 6 July 2023.