‘Insidious: Chapter 3’ Is Here, And It’s Getting Surprisingly Strong Reviews

Insidious: Chapter 3, the latest entry in the PG-13 horror series created by Furious 7 director James Wan, hits theaters Friday (June 5), and by most accounts, it is a return to form that manages to keep audiences off-guard.

Wan has stepped away from the series at this point. (Aquaman is keeping him plenty busy.) But old friend and collaborator Leigh Whannell (Saw) seems to be up for the challenge in his directorial debut.

Whannell has an impressive list of writing credits to his name including the first Saw and the first two films in this series.

He’s chosen to go with a low-key, slow-burn effort that goes for more psychological scares and subtle misdirection over needless CGI.

Reviewers seem pleased. Fangoria’s Michael Gingold gives it three out of four skulls, adding that the prequel choice “proves to have been the right one, as it allows for the introduction of new characters while adding depth to a familiar one, and delivers another creepy good time at the movies.”

He adds that “Whannell isn’t beholden to slavishly replicating the prior chapters, and introduces a pretty freaky new demon into the mix, whose design (as carried out by Justin Raleigh’s Fractured FX) forgoes the need for any complicated origin explanations.”

Christy Lemire from the Roger Ebert website confesses, “I leapt out of my seat and grabbed the arm of the critic sitting next to me so often (and he did the same, although he shall remain nameless) that you’d think we’d never seen a horror movie before.”

Tim Robey of the Daily Telegraph even finds Insidious: Chapter 3 to be the best in the series.

“It manages the all-important jump scares with the finesse of a skilled stage illusionist, but it’s the surprisingly sincere emotional core that makes it the pick of the series.”

Here’s the plot from the IMDb page.

“A prequel set before the haunting of the Lambert family that reveals how gifted psychic Elise Rainier reluctantly agrees to use her ability to contact the dead in order to help a teenage girl who has been targeted by a dangerous supernatural entity.”

If that’s not enough to entice you, we’ve also got the trailer that you can check out here.

Insidious: Chapter 3 is rated PG-13 for violence, frightening images, some language, and thematic elements.

Will you be hitting theaters this weekend? What’s on the short list for you? Share your picks in the comments section below.

[Image via Insidious: Chapter 3 film, screen grab]