In the past 20 years, I think I can only pinpoint three movies that have legitimately scared and stuck with me. The original Paranormal Activity shook me to the core, The Conjuring 2 (that nun scene…), and the first Insidious film. It’s been around 8 years since I watched it, I remember it distinctly because I blew one of my home cinema speakers out viewing it. So I thought maybe it wouldn’t hold up after all this time. I’m a hardened horror veteran now and nothing scares me… Well, all I’ll say is it’s been a long time since I’ve felt that way watching a movie. After switching it off around midnight, I ventured into my darkened home only to find every shadow is now a threat. That lipstick demon’s image burnt into my brain, I scuttled off to bed and promptly hid under the sheets.
READ MORE: Review | Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
To quote this new film, The Red Door: “We need to remember, even if it hurts…” I agree. We need to remember just how good that original movie was, even though we’re continually hurt by its trash sequels.
(Sony Pictures)
Over the course of the first two films, we’ve discovered that Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson) and his son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) are astral projectors. Which means a spirit version of themselves can leave their physical body behind when they’re sleeping. The problems start if they stray too far, as other entities will then attempt to take possession of their body. So of course, some messed up stuff happens and at the end of Chapter 2 both Josh and Dalton have suppressed any memories of what happen over the course of these movies and also forget the ability to astral project.
READ MORE: Review | Transformers: Rise of the Beasts ‘Bring back Bay’
The Red Door starts off so strong. I love exploring how suppressing a part of your memory would actually affect your life. For Josh, it’s meant that he has been living in a kind of fog, that has led to his wife leaving him and he has become distant with his son Dalton. In an attempt to reconnect, Josh offers to drive Dalton to college where he will be studying art, which leads to an incredibly raw scene where the two fight and Josh calls Dalton ‘a spoilt brat.’ Josh storms out and breaks into tears… a powerfully emotion kick off, but unfortunately, it’s only downhill from here.
(Sony Pictures)
When asked to paint something from deep within his mind, Dalton feverishly brushes a bright red door surrounded by darkness onto the canvas. The very same door that we would remember from previous films, but of course, Dalton doesn’t. This is where it all starts coming back to him, he remembers how to astral project, but doesn’t remember the horrors that come with it…
READ MORE: Nicolas Cage coming to Dead by Daylight as new DLC
If you’re like me, this is where you would expect to find out some more about this franchise’s spooky lore, possibly even more about that the creepy lipstick face demon. And although he does make an appearance, the film focuses more on the trials and tribulations of the Lambert family. And, as I said before, I am super keen to see what they’re up to. But at what expense? Surely, they could’ve figured out a way to combine the two.
(Sony Pictures)
Not only is Patrick Wilson back starring in the role of Josh, but The Red Door is also his directorial debut. I thought this could only end two ways: Wilson has become the face of maestro James Wan’s big horror franchises, Insidious and the Conjuring, and could be the perfect man to take over the reins, having been so invested in these worlds for so long on the other side of the camera. Or he could be an actor trying to act like a director. Wilson does have a strong cinematic style, some of the shot composition and dramatic scenes are fantastic, but it really feels like he has made a film that an actor would really love to be in, something he can show of his chops with, rather than focusing on what the franchise is known for. You know… Being scary.
READ MORE: Review | OXENFREE II: Lost Signals (PS5)
(Sony Pictures)
To be fair to the man, this is an interesting choice for him to take on as his first time in the director’s chair. The fifth film in a franchise doesn’t give you a lot to play with. Over the past thirteen years, things that the first film may have pioneered have now become tropes.
I’m sad to say, that for a horror movie, The Red Door never even made me uncomfortable. Look, I didn’t expect it to the ascend to the unreachable high bar that that first film holds in my mind but even all the sequels leading up to this one had at least one memorable scare. Not here. After about an hour I was just getting bored, which is a real shame as I really believe that if they’d been able to take the energy from that intense opening scene and inject it into the terror that could have come, this would’ve been dynamite. But there is barely even a body count, so therefore the stakes don’t feel all that high. And I feel like we didn’t really find out a whole lot about that red door.
If there is anything to take away from this flick though, it’s that Ty Simpkins has a long, successful acting career ahead of him. Reprising the role he played in the very first Insidious instalment back in 2010, he’s all grown up and is on his way to mastering the craft. Slotting into the lead role here with absolute confidence, eating up every scene he was in. I look forward to seeing what else this young man can do in the future.
Ultimately a disappointing return to the Insidious world. Mostly because it had so much promise. If you’re looking for a fright, I’d just go back and watch that first movie if I was you.
