Do you want to feel old? The actor who played the boy besieged by demons and ghosts in James Wan’s film is the same twenty-something who now plays him in the fifth installment of the saga. It’s been over 12 years since we saw that movie and the horror movie landscape has changed a lot. In this review we are going to find out if Night of the Demon: The Red Door or Insidious 5 is as terrifying as the first one was in its day or if it is nothing more than an attempt to take advantage of a well-known name to create cheap scares.
This film is special not only because it returns to the original plot of the first two films in the saga, but also because is the directorial debut of actor Patrick Wilson, who also stars in it. We will see if his talent in front of the cameras is also noticeable behind them.
The horrors that the Lambert family lived through seem to be a thing of the past. Dalton and his father underwent a hypnosis session to forget the terrible events of the “afterlife”. But that did not save the family. Ten years later and after a painful divorce, Josh Lambert feels a hole in his life and suffers from severe memory problems. Everything takes a turn for the worse when Dalton enters college and a painting of a red door brings back the horrors of the past.
If you are interested in seeing The Night of the Demon (Insidious): The Red Door to get a little scared, you will be satisfied. This is a movie that shines when it’s building tension to unleash some good jump scares.. Patrick Wilson’s experience acting in horror films like these and those of The spell comes out right now. There’s a moment when Josh is attacked during a CT scan that he had us on the edge of our seats and our hair on end.
The man with the face of fire, the terrifying demon that haunted our nightmares in the first movie, is back to haunt Josh and Dalton. His brief appearances work well, but he’s not nearly as memorable as he was a decade ago. We also have a cameo from Lin Shaye. She couldn’t be missing because she became “the face” of the franchise even though her character died in the first movie.
The time that has passed since the premiere of Insidious: Chapter 2 may be a problem for audiences of The Night of the Demon: The Red Door. This film asks us for familiarity with the Lambert family and the terrible events they suffered. If you do not have a good memory or have not recently seen the second installment of the saga, you may have forgotten important details. If you’re planning to watch the new movie and have some time, you’ll be interested to know that the first few movies in this series are on HBO Max.
With this film, Patrick Wilson shows that he does have potential as a director. As we already said, the tension management of him is very good and there are some moments of great visual power with beautiful color contrasts. The problems of the film are not in his direction, but in his script. The film is full of bland dialogue and awkward moments. The final part of the story is nothing more than the repetition of events that we had already seen in the previous Insidious movies..
Family drama, specifically the damaged relationship between Josh and his son Dalton, is at the heart of Insidious: The Red Door. It is a pity that it falls into melodramatic clichés. Topics about generational trauma and mental illness don’t have time to develop properly. Although the performances of Patrick Wilson and Ty Simpkins are good, it’s not easy to connect with their characters.
The first three films in the Insidious saga or The Night of the Demon are exciting looks at the idea of astral travel as a space for terror. They have great moments and flashy villains. But The Last Key and The Red Door remained stagnant, repeating the same ideas. The “afterlife” has not evolved and the return of The Man with the Face of Fire represents that attachment to the past that can do so much damage to a franchise.
The night of the demon (Insidious): The red door is a good horror movie that gives us some good scares, but does not transcend beyond that. it’s nothing memorable. At least it made us have a good time at the movies and it helped Patrick Wilson to show us that he can direct. Maybe he risks going behind the scenes for The Conjuring 4.
The Night of the Demon (Insidious): The Red Door – Review
