When one Red Door closes, another opens. Insidious: Out of the Further, the sixth installment of this film series, picks up mere weeks after the Lambert saga finally reached its end to introduce a new family and demonic threat. The latest entry adds a few new wrinkles thanks to a preternatural power upgrade for its new protagonist, along with franchise callbacks and fan service, but mostly the sixth film prefers to play it safe.
After an effective cold open that introduces a young Gemma dealing with the traumatic and terrifying loss of her mom, a sequence that sets the stage for the overarching narrative, Out of the Further skips ahead 20 years to reintroduce a grown Gemma (Amelia Eve), now a single mom herself. To say that Gemma has severe hangups from her childhood trauma would be an understatement; even she knows it, though she tries her best to keep it under control for the sake of her daughter Maya (Island Austin).
Because this is an Insidious movie, Gemma begins suffering disturbing dreams straight away. Nightmares that bleed into her waking life, causing her to lose track of time and raise questions about her own sanity. Worse, she can bring things back from her dreams. Instead of professional help, as her boyfriend Nick (Brandon Perea) would probably prefer, Gemma turns to the Further’s ultimate hero, Elise (Lin Shaye), for spiritual guidance against the creepy cult leader Cyrus (Sam Spruell), who has sinister plans for Gemma’s unique gift.
Though even Elise has a dramatically reduced presence in this sequel, maybe a few minutes total longer than her brief cameo in the previous film. It’s tattoo artist slash spiritualist Clare (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) who subs in for an absent Specs and Tucker, serving as a mouthpiece in our world for necessary exposition delivery that’s essentially on autopilot at this stage. So much so that the famous line “it’s not the house that’s haunted” gets repurposed here as shorthand in a fast-moving sequel rushing through the franchise’s greatest hits.
Out of the Further only seems to have eyes for its ghostly denizens and their haunted house antics. The former is this sequel’s biggest strength. Spruell’s Cyrus ranks high among the series’ most unsettling foes and puts his cult leadership to eerie use, and comes armed with loyal followers to do his bidding. As if that’s not enough, this sequel also packs in five films’ worth of undead cameos; blink, and you’re likely to miss some of your fave Insidious baddies and ghosts.
Director Jacob Chase (Come Play) nails a few memorable scare sequences that’ll leave you squirming, though many are already heavily covered in marketing materials. Gemma’s descent into a liminal Backrooms-like pillow-fort and a nerve-fraying, gross-out dental cleaning from Hell are the two knockout set pieces worth the price of admission. The sound design is admirably repulsive. Beyond that, though, Insidious falls into a repetitive, less effective rhythm that leaves the human characters frustratingly helpless.
Eve is affable enough, but Out of the Further leaves her stranded in damsel mode for far too long despite telling us over and over again that she’s far more powerful than the Lamberts. That her gift borrows from Nancy Thompson, a much tougher final girl, doesn’t help. The closer Cyrus gets, and the more Gemma loses time, the messier this sequel gets as it shortchanges its central (tired) theme of cyclical trauma. Maya never convincingly factors into the events until the climax, for example, making the deterioration of her relationship with her mother more disjointed than devastating.
Insidious: Out of the Further adds enough spooky fun and Further frights to the mix to keep it moving along at a rapid clip, therefore ensuring it never overstays its welcome. It also doesn’t ever take itself too seriously, even leaning into silly playfulness in parts. But you know exactly how it’ll play out long before Gemma does.
The sixth entry might unnerve franchise newcomers, but otherwise it feels like a speed run through a familiar and mostly repetitive haunted house.
Insidious: Out of the Further releases in theaters on August 21.
