New Neighbors are the worst sometimes

The first thing they did well was tell a new story. This is not the first time the Insidious franchise has backed off the Lambert family. Out of the previous five there were two installments that were extemporaneous to the original cast. One of these landed, one of them did not. Insidious three was a train wreck. The story was bad. The acting was bad. Everything about it was painfully boring. Even the ghostly antagonist was just a gross old guy. Two thumbs way down. Now the fourth installment that went back into Elyse's origin more was interesting. It was at least a fresh new angle that they were playing up and it worked much better. Not even simply by comparison. It wasn't a difficult hurdle to clear after the abysmal third film. But in it's own right it was a much better movie. So branching out is not new territory for Insidious as a brand but they don't have a patterned history of straight success in my book. The gamble I like that they took was anchoring the story to the universe with Elyse but also the general lore. It's not hard to slap together an eerie villain and drop them into "The Further" but they used just enough connective tissue to the existing entries while creating a whole new story that was well written and much more interesting than the third or fourth films.

I think what worked best narratively was that it seemed more like they took an idea and built around it. The foundation was solid. They wanted to revisit the pattern of cyclical family trauma but they grounded it more and created a new batch of characters that were much easier to assimilate with than other installments. I think by giving the family a condensed structure really set them apart from the Lambert family we already knew. There was legacy there as well but it manifested differently. In this film, we see the dichotomy of simply a mother/daughter dynamic. That's where our protagonist starts her story, as the daughter. But then we jump forward and see her step into the mother role and the cycle begins again. As this is a newer movie, I am going to do my best to stay away from spoilers and major plot points because my recommendation is to definitely go check it out. This one is new and perfect for this spooky season. But whatever haunted Gemma as a girl is still very much in the picture once she has a daughter of her own.

The second thing I really appreciated about this film, and in large part this entire series, is that they build the eerie tension deliberately but aren't shy about it either. There's a great balance of subtle creepy things going on in the background or even in the score that is keeping you right on the edge without being in your face. At the same time, the trio of terrifying elderly folk who are ever encroaching on Gemma's territory maintain a fright just a few inches from your face. The back and forth mixed with just enough down time in between creates this rotation that provides the best amount of exposition and relief before dragging you right back into something horrific. Being that this is another new story, there's a fun point of view for the audience as well. If you've been involved with these films up to this point, you have a greater understanding of the world just being exposed to Gemma. But one of the best elements they work with in this film is a wrinkle unlike others we've seen in the past flicks. Again, not giving anything away because it's just too good, but I need to drop some breadcrumbs that will make you follow into the further beacuse this one is too good to sleep on.

My final positive, and I could go on for a while, is the casting. Lin Shaye has been a definitive anchor in all 6 films now. I appreciate how they have creatively cast and written her character, both bouncing around in time and positioning her in starring and supporting roles. Her portrayal of Elyse in all the movies is what Zelda Rubenstein was to the Poltergeist franchise and then some. I appreciate that she never feels stale in her performance and is applied with the perfect amount of narrative prowess. She's not a get out of jail free card when fighting some evil entity. But she always seems to swoop in at the right time, not necessarily the best time. Additionally, the rest of the cast of newcomers to the series were all contributors. Gemma and her daughter were a great pairing. Her boyfriend, officer Mendoza was a great skeptic. I think my favorite might have been Clare, the tattoo artist who acts as a voice for Elyse in the real world. I don't think there was a truly bad performance amongst any of the principle players and that is a considerable achievement in my book, especially for Insidious number six.

It wouldn't be fair to just sit here and say this movie is perfect when it definitely isn't. But I will also submit that I didn't find a lot to truly criticize. I think if I had to point to one thing that bothered me at all, it was whenever it felt like the pacing kind of stagnated in spots. There were times where I mentally and even audibly called out to the film to pick it back up. They had teased a next step or a clear direction and we just weren't getting there. We would concretely establish something as canon and then take too long to call back to it at certain points in the film. I know there were at least two times where I interacted with my television set by verbally nudging the plot to "Get on with it already!' So there were a few times where it felt like we may have haphazardly lingered in places longer than I, personally, saw fit. If that's the critique, which I do think its more than fair, that's something I can very much live with when it comes to this film.

If this movie had come out a decade ago, I'd probably tack on several more paragraphs breaking down some of my favorite scenes. It wouldn't be hard. I appreciated that they gave us enough in the trailer to know what is essentially going on but didn't give away everything. I'll merely hint at the fact that there are still plenty of twists and turns outside of what was provided and I appreciated that. There were plenty of instances to be actually frightened without reducing a scene to a low hanging jump scare. Not that there aren't enough in the film. Insidious has never really shied away from jump scares. But I will say this is another film where it never felt egregious of out of sync. I can easily say at the end of the film I never felt like it was jump scare heavy and that's another shining accomplishment in my book.

So where do I land with this flick? It's my first A of the year.*** I was tempted to tamp it down to an A- but I don't really feel like my critiques were outrageous enough to take it down to that place. It's a solid A in my book. It comes out on physical media in December and I have it pre-ordered making this the first official purchase of the 31 Days of 2026. I will note that while I did pick up the 4th film, I didn't feel driven to purchase the most recent installment prior to this one, Insidious: The Red Door. It wasn't a bad film, but it didn't cross that threshold for me. I note that simply to highlight that this one feels like a real return to the brand and an expansion worth checking out. My hope is they take this energy and run with it. There is more room to explore in this world they've established. Don't revisit Gemma. We have that story. They added great value to the overall franchise by making this story come to life. Write more and give them they same structure and appeal. It's not formulaic, but it's proof of concept that you can move around within the space the narrative lore had established with measures of inspiration and creativity that breathe new life into something we've already experienced a number of times over. So if you're looking for something modern and well made this spooky season, I highly recommend Out of the Further. It's worth the watch. But now we need to get on to day 11. So come back for that one and until then I'll catch you on the flip side. ***I realized something after the fact and feel dishonest just erasing it and writing over it. I made a grave error. Ron's pick of "Creep" a few days ago escaped my mind while I was writing this review. THAT movie was officially my first A rating of the year. I don't attribute the performance of the film on Ron's recommendation but I also cannot void the fact that his recommendation does hold significance in my book. So the movie didn't perform better because Ron recommended it. But I do want Ron to get the credit for recommending an A rated movie. That distinction IS important to me. We now return you to your episode of "Murder, She Wrote" already in progress...