Movie Review: ‘Insidious: The Red Door’

Directed for the first time by star Patrick Wilson, this serves as something of a legacy sequel, digging into the movies’ history.

Patrick Wilson in Screen Gems 'Insidious: The Red Door.'

While it feels a little odd to be calling a horror franchise that kicked off in 2010 ‘venerable’ perhaps the most terrifying element is remembering that that was 13 years ago. ‘Insidious’, with its tale of the creepy nether realm known as “The Further” is back to haunt the living after four previous entries.

This time around, Patrick Wilson –– who has played patriarch Josh Lambert since the original –– also steps behind the camera, working from a script by Scott Teems (‘Halloween Kills’), who collaborated on the story with original ‘Insidious’ writer Leigh Whannell. The new film is called 'Insidious: The Red Door' and it opens in theaters on July 7th.

Insidious: The Red Door

"It ends where it all began."

PG-131 hr 47 minJun 27th, 2023

Showtimes & Tickets

Watch Insidious: The Red Door Online

What’s the story of ‘Insidious: The Red Door’?

Picking up ten years after the events of the second film, the Lamberts are a fractured family in mourning. Patrick Wilson returns as Josh Lambert, a father struggling with the loss of his mother, Lorraine, and keen to mend the relationship with his oldest son, Dalton (a returning Ty Simpkins).

He agrees to drive the talented artist to his Ivy League university, hoping the road trip and settling him in will help them reconnect. Things, as you might suspect, don’t go to plan.

At the same time, a psychological trigger revives a past Dalton didn’t even realize he’d forgotten (or, more accurately, had used hypnotized to suppress), and it gradually begins to sneak its dark fingers into his reality, opening a gateway to the nightmarish realm we know so well from past movies in the series.

The gateway is a red door that haunts his Dalton’s art and his dreams, a portal in The Further that Josh and Dalton must unite to close for the sake of their family, past and present…

Who else is in ‘Insidious: The Red Door’?

The cast for the movie also includes Rose Byrne returning as matriarch Renai Lambert, Andrew Astor as son Foster Lambert, and Lin Shaye once more playing parapsychologist Dr. Elise Rainier (alongside a quick cameo from Whannell and Angus Sampson as her regular tech sidekicks Specs and Tucker).

Outside the veteran cast, we have Sinclair Daniel as Dalton’s college friend Chris and Hiam Abbass as cranky art teacher Professor Armagan.

The direction

Director/Actor Patrick Wilson and Ty Simpkins on the set of Screen Gems 'Insidious: The Red Door.'

‘The Red Door’ marks Wilson’s directorial debut, and it’s a solid start for the actor-turned-shot-caller. Aside from a few early moments that stretch a little too far into wannabe arty, he maintains a solid visual aesthetic that lets the characters do the work, but also wrangles his team to create some effective scary moments.

True, there are the obligatory jump scares, sudden noises thrown on to the soundtrack to evince reactions from the audience, but those are never overused. And Wilson also finds a way to make silence just as effectual when it comes to generating terror.

And coming from a performing background, he’s also able to draw some genuine performances from the cast. Simpkins is initially in sullen teen mode, though it’s an understandable phase given that Dalton’s grandmother has just died, and he still feels the impact from what he and the family went through when he was younger (turns out the hypnosis he and his father underwent didn’t solve all their problems).

And once he starts to dig into the scary visions he’s happening, Dalton comes out of his shell even if he does spend most of the movie looking upset (again, understandably).

Yet while Wilson does good work as Josh, who goes on his own journey to figure out his issues and his connection to The Further, the film is almost stolen in certain scenes by Daniel as Chris Winslow, who meets Dalton when she’s mistakenly assigned as his roommate on the first day of college.

Daniel brings an affably askew energy to the role; Chris becoming a confidante and platonic best pal for Dalton and thankfully doesn’t simply disappear once the scary stuff truly kicks in. While she’s popped up in some TV guest spots, this is the sort of performance that should land Daniel on plenty of casting directors’ lists, such life does she bring to both the part and the movie itself.

Elsewhere, fans of the ‘Insidious’ movies will appreciate nods to previous outings –– this is pretty much a legacy sequel despite only appearing a few years since the last one. Entertainingly taking the family to an even darker, more damaged place, it meditates on familial trauma, fathers and sons and the power of astral projection.

Are there issues in the Further?

The main problems with the movie stem from the familiar beats that begin to kick in as Dalton and his father truly investigate the chunk of memories that has been obscured in their minds. While the writers and crew stage a few inventive variations on dead entities stalking and messing with the living, there are only so many ways this can play out and once we dive back into The Further, things become ridiculously over-stylized and honestly less creepy, not more.

Plus, if you were shouting at the screen that a potential fix for all the problems is staring the characters in the face once Dalton makes one particular move in the story, you’ll likely be disappointed how long it takes them to figure it out.

And while she is in the movie, Rose Byrne gets very little to do until the very end, but at least makes the most of Renai’s limited screen time.

Likewise, Abbass’ Armagan does what she can with the small amount of scenes, one in particular, an abrasive first class with her new students, is a standout. Wilson and Teems might also have found a more effective way to bring those who have somehow chosen to make this the first ‘Insidious’ movie they see up to speed than halting the plot for an exposition dump (even if it is delivered by three familiar, entertaining characters).

A more effective re-visit of a scary story than the more recent ‘Halloween’ movies, ‘The Red Door’ serves as a solid final chapter for this story. Though of course, it goes without saying (and we won’t spoil anything) that there are hints for the future after the end credits.

‘Insidious: The Red Door’ receives 7.5 out of 10 stars.

Other Movies Similar to ‘Insidious: The Red Door':

'Insidious' (2011)
‘Insidious: Chapter 2' (2013)
'The Conjuring' (2013)
‘Insidious: Chapter 3' (2015)
'The Conjuring 2' (2016)
‘Insidious: The Last Key' (2018)
'Annabelle Comes Home' (2019)
'The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It' (2021)

Buy Tickets: 'Insidious: The Red Door' Movie Showtimes

Buy 'Insidious' Movies On Amazon

'Insidious: The Red Door' is produced by Blumhouse Productions, Stage 6 Films, Screen Gems. The movie is scheduled to release in theaters on July 7th, 2023.