Director: Patrick Wilson
Starring: Ty Simpkins, Patrick Wilson, Sinclair Daniel, Hiam Abbass, Rose Byrne
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 107 mins

Insidious: The Red Door is the fifth instalment in the highly profitable series and actor Patrick Wilson’s directorial debut. Director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell kickstarted the series in 2011, with Insidious attracting a positive critical reception and banking a cool $100 million from a $1.5 million budget. Wan and Whannell are still on hand in a producing capacity, with Whannell also contributing to the story along with Halloween Kills’ Scott Teems. 

The film is set nine years after the events of Insidious: Chapter 2, returning back to the Lambert family who fronted the first two films. Both the highly underrated Insidious: Chapter 3 and the disappointing Insidious: The Last Key were prequels and largely focussed on Lin Shaye’s charismatic psychic Elise Rainier. It’s impressive how even five films in, there is yet to be an outright bad entry, which you can’t say about many other horror franchises. 

Insidious: The Red Door opens on the funeral of Lorraine Lambert (Barbara Hershey) and we learn shortly after that both Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne) are now divorced. It’s time for 19-year-old Dalton (Ty Simpkins) to head to college and Josh attempts to heal their strained relationship by driving him to college. Of course, it wouldn’t be an Insidious film without a venture into The Further, the vast and dark dimension where many souls are damned to remain forever, instigated by Dalton’s first college art class.

While in many ways, Insidious: The Red Door is a step-up from the disappointing fourth instalment, Patrick Wilson’s directorial debut is a mixed bag. It’s quite different from its predecessors, and all the better for it, in that it’s a drama film at its core rather than a horror. Although it’s been done plenty of times before, Wilson successfully crafts a gripping family dynamic and takes his time with the characters. The first two acts are very much a slow burn and I particularly appreciated the small detail, for example, of a father struggle to know what to write to his son via text message. Wilson deftly explores the theme of generational trauma and to some extent, it provides a satisfying closure to the Lambert family’s story. It’s not perfect – an extended sequence in a frat house simply doesn’t belong in the film – but you have to admire Wilson’s ambition to take the series in a different direction. 

There’s some excellent performances here too. Ty Simpkins makes for a gripping lead as the brooding Dalton, who struggles to fit in with his family and society. Patrick Wilson’s also reliably brilliant as the weary, worn-down father who doesn’t want to repeat history with his own family that’s held him back. Newcomer Sinclair Daniel is also great as Chris, Dalton’s charismatic college roommate who befriends him, although one does need to suspend belief a little at her choice to remain with him in certain scenarios. 

The film’s competently shot by Autumn Eakin too, an inverted opening shot of a gravestone particularly effective in setting the dour opening. 

Unfortunately, where Insidious: The Red Door falls short is its sudden rush to the finish and the film falling short as a horror. After the admirable first two acts, the venture back into The Further is unsatisfactorily rushed for the story Wilson’s trying to tell. 

This is by far, the least scariest film in the franchise and while there are perhaps two intriguing ideas, the jump scare itself is poorly executed. Both Wan and Whannell understand the art form of how to achieve an effective jump scares with their Insidious entries and Wilson fails in establishing a tension. The Red Door also seems to undermine the previous film’s logic as to how The Further operates, which I found quite frustrating. 

Although returning composer Joseph Bishara reuses uses some of his effective original themes, the score is overused and certain sequences, such as Josh walking out of Dalton’s room in an upset state, would have been more impactful without music. A scene featuring Josh and Dalton attempting to converse in a car also doesn’t really land an impact as the dialogue is drowned out by a backing track.

While Insidious: The Red Door has its fair share of problems and doesn’t reach the heights of the first three films, there’s still plenty to admire here. I liked Wilson’s attempt at a familial exploration and the cast are all game for it. It’s a shame the horror elements of the film are weak and a rewrite would have been the only logical solution for the underwhelming and rushed finale. On an initial viewing, I think The Red Door has more going for it than The Last Key and although deeply flawed, this fifth (and supposedly final) entry into the enduring series has some bright spots. 

⭐⭐⭐ (Good)