After director James Wan helped usher an old-school/new-school horror mix into the mainstream with 2011’s “Insidious” – set in modern times but with sound and visual trappings of Seventies films – we got a chronologically immediate sequel with “Insidious: Chapter 2” (2013).
The first film ends with Patrick Wilson’s Josh Lambert going into The Further (this franchise’s calling card – a nether-realm that’s like a dim and architecturally quirky haunted house) to rescue his son Dalton (Ty Simpkins). The crossing-over process happens via falling asleep, similar to “A Nightmare on Elm Street.”
When Josh comes back, he’s possessed by the barely explained ghost villainess, and he kills Lin Shaye’s medium Elise. Renai Lambert (Rose Byrne) shoots a terrified look at her husband and the credits roll.
“Insidious: Chapter 2” (2013)
Director: James Wan
Writers: Leigh Whannell, James Wan
Stars: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey
Scary Josh and Nice Josh
This would be a “one last scare” if “Insidious” was a commercial failure. Since it wasn’t, it’s instead the setup for a sequel. But Wan and co-writer Leigh Whannell (who also plays paranormal investigator Specs) need more than one scene. They need 106 minutes of sequel, so we take a step back. We’re invited to wonder along with Renai: Is Josh fine, or is he possessed? You get one guess.
Wilson always runs a little cold, but he especially plays that temperature as real-world possessed Josh. Meanwhile, the nice, normal Josh would be stuck in The Further, except that Specs and colleague Tucker (Angus Sampson) research how to get him out.
We get the full backstory of the villain(s), which touches on wonky gender dysphoria but not to the same degree of weirdness as “Sleepaway Camp.” The backstory conveniently ropes in Josh’s mom (the returning Barbara Hershey).
Wan and Whannell find neat workarounds to go back to Josh’s childhood in the Eighties. Shaye provides Elise’s voice, lip synching for a younger stand-in. Hershey’s Lorraine also has an effective younger stand-in. The exploration of the past gets convoluted. As Lorraine and the three investigators’ (Elise’s old pal Carl joins up) probe an abandoned hospital, we see a flashback to when Lorraine was a nurse there. This leads them to the film’s fourth spooky location.
The narrative also circles back on itself in the manner of the “Back to the Future” trilogy. Wan and Whannell seem to be saying “Everyone knows this is a commercial sequel, but let’s layer on the intrigue anyway.”
‘One last scare’ to nowhere
It’s unapologetically contrived, and ultimately, “Chapter 2’s” strengths are the same as the original’s, like ghosts zipping through the background of various creaky houses. The film finds a couple unique identifiers: a baby roller bursts into noise, and Dalton uses a makeshift walkie-talkie (only it’s a ghost at the end of the string, not his brother).
“Chapter 2” also ends with “one last scare” featuring Elise, who has inexplicably learned to astral project out of The Further (something that would be worth doing for a little sunlight, to say nothing of helping haunted people).
In the coda, Ghost Elise assists Specs and Tucker on the next, unrelated case. The film ends with Ghost Elise apparently being spooked by another ghost or demon. It’s a credit to the filmmakers that it’s not totally absurd – but it gets close.
Interestingly, this “one last scare” has not led to a sequel – even though there have now been three additional “Insidious” films (two prequels and the just-released sequel “The Red Door,” which jumps ahead 10 years to catch up with the Lamberts). This “path not taken” within a successful franchise calls to mind the stops and starts of “Friday the 13th” and “Halloween” – not a great look for a presumably classier saga.
Still, we knew going in that “Chapter 2” might as well be subtitled “Josh is Possessed,” and Wan and Whannell get maximum mileage out of the obvious beats. Now it will be up to “The Red Door” – which has a new screenwriter and is directed by Wilson — to pull off the same trick.