Insidious : Chapter 3

Well we needed to have a sequel didn’t we? Insidious : Chapter 3 is the prequel to the events of the first movie written and directed by Leigh Whannell in his directorial debut. The 2015 film stars Dermot Mulroney and Stefanie Scott, with Angus Sampson, Whannell, and Lin Shaye reprising their roles from the previous films.

Set a few years before the events of the first film, Elise Rainer, is living a reclusive life in her home still recovering from the death of her husband, who killed himself as he was suffering from depression. Teenager Quinn Brennan approaches her at her home asking for help in contacting the spirit of her recently deceased mother who she feels is trying to contact her from beyond her grave. Feeling pity on the young girl Elise, who has stopped doing readings, agrees to try to contact Lillith Brennan, however she stops after hearing a demonic presence who threatens to kill her. She warns Quinn to stop trying to reach out to her mother on her own and that if “you call out to one of the dead, all of them can hear you.”

Quinn skips school to go to an audition for a NYC based theatre academy and sees a strange figure waving to her from the side. Not having had much time to prepare (with her overbearing father Sean asking her to help raise her younger brother Alex) Quinn flubs her lines and does not do well. Later she sits with her best friend Maggie and discusses her unhappiness and as they leave, she sees the same dark figure waving to her from across the street. This distracts her and causes her to be hit by a car, which breaks her legs. Using a wheelchair she is now resting at home with her legs in a cast and her father gets more time off from work to be around for her and even gives her a bell to ring in case she needs him. At night she notices weird things like the bell going off on it’s own and hearing a knock from behind the wall (which is the room of next door neighbor Hector, she knocks back and he copies her. Quinn texts Hector, who reveals that he isn’t home. Fearing it was someone else next door, she goes to bed. The paranormal experiences keep escalating with Quinn seeing the figure in her room and the ceilings getting craked above her bed.

The demonic figure, resembling a corpse with a breathing mask, brings Quinn upstairs to the empty apartment above hers and she sees a faceless, limbless version of herself. Hearing banging from above Sean rushes up and finds Quinn on the floor and follows the bloody footprints to the broken window. A man is lying on the pavement below, as if he committed suicide by jumping out. As Quinn goes to observe the window, the demon grabs Quinn and tries to pull her over the ledge. Sean saves her, but her neck is injured in the process. Sean contacts a reluctant Elise who tries to enter the spiritual realm but is scared away by the Bride in Black who tries to strangle her. Knowing that the Bride has vowed to kill her, Elise leaves. Alex shows Sean a video of two bloggers, Specs & Tucker, who are ghost hunters. They attempt to catch the demon but find a semi-possessed Quinn attacking them. Meanwhile Elise returns, having found encouragement from a fellow medium & friend who tells her that she is stronger than she thinks she is, and offers to help again. This time she fights off the Bride in Black and goes on.

The Demon takes the form of Elise’s dead husband, Jack, in an attempt to trick her into killing herself so they can be together. After a tearful reunion, Elise realizes that it is actually the Demon, and easily defeats him, but it grabs hold of a faceless version of Quinn. This version of Quinn is revealed to be half of her soul, which the demon now controls. Elise returns to the others and tells them that only Quinn can get the rest of her soul back. However, Quinn is losing the battle, as her alternate version gains more of her features. Elise hears the voice of the wife of the Brenner’s neighbor who had died the other night, leading her to Quinn’s diary, which contains a letter that Lillith wanted her to read before she graduated. The power from this letter helps guide Lillith to save Quinn and banish the demon. Lillith leaves her with some parting words, and the family is finally reunited. Specs and Tucker decide to join Elise to deal with other supernatural disturbances. At the end of the film, Elise realizes something is wrong when her dog keeps barking at a dark closet and the the Lipstick-Faced Demon pops out next to her.

Not bad for a sequel, which usually tends to be the worst of all horror movie franchises. This one was decent and well acted and not cheesy either, despite the plot with the mother’s spirit being involved. I’d give it a 7.5 outta 10!