insidious (2010)

[intro credits roll]

[intro credits rolling...]

[done?!... nope, still rolling...]

well now that i know all 400 people that worked on this movie, i'd say i'm beyond-ready to proceed.  

the premise (though familiar) is far from simple.  in short, a family is settling into their new home when they start to notice a few anomalies.  as is typical of these 'poltergeist' movies, we're sloooowly eased into the idea that something's horribly wrong... books that were placed on a shelf are found on the ground and the children start venturing around the attic, etc.  not completely unexplainable, right?  sure, things don't seem right but it's the first few nights in a new house so everyone shrugs it off, naturally.  but we, the audience, know better!  we saw the previews so we're less than comforted by the 'new house' explanation.  then, rather suddenly, one of the children slips into a coma and doctors are baffled.  he is placed on monitors and home supervision (someone slips into a coma and the doctors send him home right away?!  i know insurance companies are cruel but this is ludicrous).  it isn't until the wife (Rose Byrne; 28 weeks later, damages) hears an angry man's voice on the baby monitor (and finds no one upon further inspection) that she begins to crack.  we begin seeing people, hearing voices, and all sorts of strange, suspenseful pop-out-from-behind-the-door shit starts happening.  this movie is jam-packed with scenes that make you jump!  

that's all well-n-good but we need a full-length feature here.  so let's throw in the skeptical father figure.  he's not convinced of anything (turn around, ya dumbass!) but, when his wife pleads with him, he agrees to move out of the house.  awesome!  a haunted house story where the people actually move!  sweet relief!

everything's going well in the new house until a small ghost-child starts running around the house playing hide-n-seek with the wife.  oooooo a twist!  it wasn't the house!  let's call a psychic ghost whisperer to get to the bottom of this...

.... and this is where the movie begins its nosedive.  priests, psychics, and revealed truths about the father help us tie together the mysterious coma and the hauntings.  i don't even know how to explain the storyline.  let's just say it involves lost souls and demons from another dimension.  


yea... they went there.

hmm.  the story started out with an interesting plot with the surprise twist that the suspected cause (the house) wasn't relevant and we were forced to focus on factors that were overlooked (the coma).  also, the 'pop out' effects were especially unnerving (and the darkness of the room i was sitting in had me slightly on-edge).  so, for these reasons, i give the movie a MEH+ but the asinine plot at the end left me a little disinterested.  

in sum, i don't regret my $1.50 rental fee or my use of a thursday night.  and after-all, isn't this the most important part?!