No major goosebumps

INSIDIOUS (2011)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Insidious" amps up the haunted house genre by introducing a seemingly novel idea: a spirit haunts an individual rather than a whole house. Of course, the whole house is seemingly (there is that word again) haunted anyway. "Insidious" has a few scares but it is not nearly as much fun or horrifying as other more stellar examples in the genre, including 1963's classic "The Haunting."

The movie begins with the customary cliches. A young couple (Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne) move into a new house with their two sons - Wilson is a teacher, Byrne is a musical composer. There is something uninviting about the house, though. When Momma Byrne places books in a shelf and later finds them on the floor, she can only blame her son. Her eldest son (Ty Simpkins) discovers the cobwebbed attic and a ladder - guess what happens. Later on, the kid doesn't wake up, staying in his bed in something of a haunted coma. What has happened? The parents are flummoxed but weird things go bump in the night and apparitions are seen. Enter the smiling, endearing psychic (Lin Shaye, in the most entertaining performance in the movie) who knows a thing or two about hauntings, especially when the kid is not really in a coma - he has entered some realm known as the Further where his soul leaves his body.

Nothing in "Insidious" is remotely fresh or invigorating - you have seen all this before and better. The personalities of the family are not fully drawn (though Rose Byrne tries to rise above a slimly written character) so it is hard to be invested in their plight. The kids, heaven help them, are merely okay but they do not stand out (everyone remembers Linda Blair in "The Exorcist" or the dearly departed Heather O'Rourke from "Poltergeist") Most of this run-of-the-mill ghost story in fact reminded me of the superior "Poltergeist," which is the kind of haunted house picture that hits you like lightning. This film, as decent and practically gore-free as it is, is more like a mild storm.

"Insidious" does its job competently (thanks to "Saw" collaborators, director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell) but it doesn't exactly give you major goosebumps.