(spoiler free)
‘Insidious The Last Key’ is another entry into the horror franchise that ticks all the boxes, but fails to deliver anything new. Super psychic Elise is back, and this time it’s personal. Starting in flashback, we see young Elise and her younger brother dealing with the usual stereotypical problems associated with being psychic and catching fleeting glimpses of the great beyond. The father and mother are exactly what we expect them to be, he’s an abusive thug, the mum is oppressed and ineffectual and that’s just the start of the cliches that this film has in abundance.
This is essentially an origin story, however the plot development that arrives later in the screenplay is contrived and feels like a cheat in what we assume will be a supernatural inspired event. Sure you might think it was a clever idea, and I don’t want to include spoilers here just in case you do go and see it , but this is ‘Insidious’, not ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, and the whole mess just fails to land. In fact the script itself is just so lazy that you have to wonder if everyone just had other things to do at the time. Things happen that even in the skewed internal logic of the ‘Insidious’ universe just don’t add up. There are such shoe horned plot devices designed to move the story along that it’s hard to watch it without picking it apart. One of Elise’ comedy side kicks hypnotizes a support character with so much ease that you could audibly hear the audience sigh, and even though she claims to be psychic, you have to question how hypnotizing her would put her in the situation she finds herself in. In fact, Specs and Tucker, the comedy relief element in the production, are both unfunny and almost as creepy as the monster on screen The jokes don’t work and the fact they don’t seem that bothered by the events occurring leads the viewer to feel the same way. They are distracting beyond belief, and to be honest the film would have worked better without them.
The key based demon that’s responsible for the ensuing drama is weak, dreary and more like a ‘Doctor Who’ monster than a terrifying nightmarish big budget horror movie creation. It’s motivations and lack of background is frustrating and what exactly it achieves by sticking it’s victims with those old key fingers is just stupid. What does it want? Why does it do it? Is there not a better way it could achieve it’s goals? For a being that seems to have so much power, it is so easily dealt with that even fans of this franchise must have left disappointed. Now before you all have a go, it’s worth noting that I am a horror movie fan, and I have a real fondness for the first ‘Insidious’. However, it’s 2018 and the genre has moved on. Horror has to be better to keep modern audiences interested. Jump scares and weak looking monsters will not win awards these days. We have seen this all before and better.
‘The Last Key’ will be enjoyed by fans of this franchise, but will leave casual cinema goers feeling cheated and dismayed. I’ve seen scary films that achieve a real feeling of dread and terror without the budget and talent that this production had. The whole genre needs to take a look at itself and see that regurgitating the same old plot, characters and jump scares is stagnant and insulting to fans that put their hard earned cash on the table to buy a ticket for it. Insidious, The Last Straw.
Written by Louie Fecou Rating – 3/10
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