INSIDIOUS Chapter 2

Cast: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, Lin Shaye, Ty Simpkins, Steve Coulter, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Andrew Astor, Michael Beach, Jocelin Donahue, Garrett Ryan

Director: James Wan

Running time: 1hour 45mins

Here comes the almost inevitable ‘Insidious’ sequel, with repetition, bemusement, lack of screenplay craft, ludicrous narrative and oak-tree performances all being served up in the name of entertainment. For those who missed Chapter 1 (lucky you) – a dysfunctional family set out once again to banish a nasty ghost, with Dalton (Ty Simpkins), Josh and Renai (Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne) all piling up at Josh's mum’s Lorraine (Barbara Hershey) hideously decorated ‘Psycho’-lookalike house (on a hill, where else?) Spooky noises and odd apparitions hit them almost immediately, as Lorraine decides these ghostly situations have all emerged from when her son Josh was a lad. So - who you gonna call? Ghostbuster Elise! (Lin Shaye). However she finds she’s quickly out of her depth and summons back-up from a team of erstwhile bogeymen/women tracers. The disappointments with this film come thick and fast. There’s a clear and extremely unfair presumption that novices to Insidious should have checked out the first film, as most who didn’t will end up clueless and find the whole outing utterly unfathomable. As I’d indicated in the opening paragraph, the film is littered with banal pseudo-scares, cheap set-ups and dismal performances right across the board. The script is empty and utterly devoid of appeal. Substituting jarring soundtrack music for visual invention is a mediocre failing and that just about sums up this poor enterprise. There will be a market for it, but it certainly won’t be troubling any panels at award-giving time.