‘Insidious Chapter 2’ tries to cash in on predecessor’s success

Published 7:23 am Thursday, September 19, 2013

“Insidious Chapter 2”, as the title indicates, is a sequel. “Insidious”, the original, was made for less than pocket change (1.5 million), a budget that would pay for the lemonade and cookies for the cast and crew of a major movie.

I checked my “Insidious” review back in 2011 and I wrote that it was worth the price of admission if one likes to jump when a demon-possessed lad commences growling and pitching crucifixes (not sure he did that, but you get the idea). It had a lot of yips and yikes for a film that cost less than a commercial featuring two silver-hairs sitting in separate bathtubs looking at a lake and contemplating a romp and a few synchronous bumps.

At the end of “Insidious”, the little demon munchkin (I thought all children are possessed by evil entities numerous times) is unpossessed and Papa starts doing this demonic drag shtick (possession by a cigarette-voiced hag if I recall correctly).

Now we have a setup for the story of Daddydevil.

“Insidious Chapter 2”’s unfortunate fate is that it arrives in theaters shortly after “The Conjuring”. “The Conjuring” is so, so much better than “Insidious Chapter 2”, it ought to be possessed by Netflix, literally.

I have a dilemma. I am simply unpossessed with motivation to describe this movie because it lacks spirit (pun intended, thank you). I can’t even conjure (pun, also intentional) up enough venom to condemn this “filmsy” (contraction of film and flimsy) to the Netherworld because it was such a non-entity (I know, that pun is a stretch).

Bottom Line: Director James Wan should have taken a note from Harper Lee; when you make a hit, try not again. Sequels can contaminate the original, demean it, spoil it and ruin the buzz.

Mr. Wan, no doubt, wants to make lighting strike twice, not a wise strategy. He also fills his sequel with back-story of the original. This back and forth may work in other films and TV shows, but in this case it causes whiplash, vertigo and apathy.

Sure there are a few “Boo!” moments and spooky dark sets and eerie music but while “The Conjuring” used evolutionarily inherent fears and urban myth hauntings to tell a simple story well, Mr. Wan’s second attempt is sloppy and most likely more about cashing in than good storytelling.

There are times when my reviews exceed appropriate column inches, but in this case I can be brief: peer intently at this sentence and visualize me at my computer shrugging my shoulders. That expresses it all.

“Insidious Chapter 2” earns two-and-a-half bow ties.