IR Film Review: INSIDIOUS - OUT OF THE FURTHER [Screen Gems/Sony]
The aspect of the franchise dealing with one family in certain ways like "The Conjuring" pushed the notion of the idea of The Red Door. What "Insidious: Out Of The Further" does is open the concept up a little bit though it still uses the consistency of Claire in Lin Shaye to anchor it. "Resident Evil" coming up faces a similar obstacle to overcome but Shaye’s presence is what allows the film to bridge into itself. Whether Shaye could keep going with AI should she allow that is an interesting question at this point in the industry. Amelia Eve plays Gemma whose mother (Laura Gordon, an Australian actress that looks a lot like Piper Perabo) was having mental problems but was actually battling Cyrus the demon who was trying to push his way into our world again after The Red Door was shut on him in the last installment. The key here is that Gemma can travel into the Further (essentially a warped purgatory) but she can also bring people in the Further back. And they are hungry to be in the real world.
The basis starts in a house but it is not the house, it is the hereditary line that fuels this. Cyrus has his acolytes. But the most gruesome part of the horror that takes place in the further uses perceptions of the dentist office which is where Gemma works. The POVs are pretty disgusting of how some of the dental inspections go bad (specifically with one Further patient) and that is mostly the point. The film is fairly efficient in its use of locations…and was shot in Melbourne Australia. Blumhouse is doing more filming over there it seems probably because of the talent pool over there. A pillow fort sequence is among one of the best in the film because it is about blurring the line between Gemma’s reality and her perception of it. There is also parallel story going with her 13-year-old daughter which is likely part of the extension of the franchise. There is no dad in the picture, only a would-be cop boyfriend who never seems to actually be at work. The suspension of belief with how he perceives Gemma's "gift" actually works pretty well in the last quarter of the fillm. Claire in the visage of Shaye though is the lynchpin of the film and in that way, it is all about trapping the demon. The way that is done is pretty cool (and works with the film’s logic). "Insidious: Out Of The Further" offers a new spin on the concept while still (fortunately or unfortunately) anchoring it to the story of before. But in many ways one cannot exist without the other. 81%/B/B-
By Tim Wassberg
