By: Grant Vance

“Insidious: Chapter 2” goes above and beyond horror movie sequel expectations. It lives up to the first film’s standards while delivering an even more engaging horror film experience.

In director James Wan’s second visit to the universe of “Insidious” he manages to capture the eeriness and intrigue of the first film while also piling on all sorts of new styles of horror and story elements.

“Insidious: Chapter 2” is a horror sequel that doesn’t take the carbon copy of the original and give the audience a re-telling of its predecessor.

Wan not only incorporates elements of fiendish astral projection through ghostly bumps in the night and morbidly-clad apparitions. He also makes homage to films such as “The Shining” and “The Amityville Horror.” in doing so.

This sequel not only builds off of the events of the first film, but also adds an incredible amount to the lore of the story.

The film offers some great scares throughout. With some genuinely funny comic relief to fill the gaps, viewers are entertained between the truly scary moments.

The only negative issues with “Insidious: Chapter 2” were the occasional holes of logic and a couple somewhat jumpy plot sequences.

Occasionally the “rules” of the spirit realm would come into question, or a character might make a questionable decision.

However, the film has enough to it to out-weigh these issues, but they are issues with the film nonetheless.

The performances were all up to par. Having to play a more dynamic role for this film, Patrick Wilson’s Josh Lambert shines in this film.

“Insidious: Chapter 2” is a nice break from stale sequels and is a perfect example of how horror should be done.

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