Review: INSIDIOUS: OUT OF THE FURTHER is Wickedly Fun and Seriously Scary Return to The Further

I went into Insidious: Out of the Further hoping for another fun trip into one of my favorite horror franchises. What I got was two hours of my wife digging her nails into my arm and smacking me every time the movie scared the hell out of her.

So, yeah… Mission accomplished. I’ve always had a soft spot for the Insidious movies. The first two are easily my favorites, and while the sequels and prequels have bounced around in quality, I’ve enjoyed what this franchise has given horror fans over the years.

At six movies deep, though, you start wondering how many more nightmares can possibly crawl out of the Further before the whole thing starts feeling worn out. Turns out, quite a few.

Insidious: Out of the Further is a strong, creepy, surprisingly scary new chapter that takes the mythology in a direction I really enjoyed. It isn’t perfect, and it occasionally trips over the usual horror movie nonsense, but damn, I had a good time with this thing.

Written and directed by Jacob Chase, the film centers on Gemma, played by Amelia Eve, a single mother carrying some seriously nasty trauma from her childhood. Her mother, Ingrid, played by Laura Gordon, died by suicide in front of her when Gemma was young, and those memories have followed her into adulthood as she tries to raise her daughter Maya, played by Island Austin.

Then the Further comes knocking, and apparently the dead have decided they’re tired of staying dead. That’s where this movie found its hook for me.

Previous Insidious films have largely revolved around people entering the Further, getting trapped there, or trying to rescue someone from it. Out of the Further flips that idea around. What happens when the things lurking in the Further figure out how to come into the world of the living?

Gemma is what the movie calls a “courier.” She doesn’t simply have the ability to enter the Further. She can bring things back with her. Naturally, an evil entity played by Sam Spruell sees this as his golden ticket out and intends to use Gemma to bring himself and the other dead inhabitants of the Further into our world.

I really dug this idea because it gives the franchise a bigger playground without abandoning what makes Insidious work. We still have creepy dead people standing where creepy dead people absolutely shouldn’t be standing.

We still have dark rooms, unsettling imagery, astral projection, and enough nightmare fuel to make walking through your house at 2 a.m. significantly less appealing. But now the threat has escaped its cage.

The movie also raises the stakes beyond saving one haunted family. If Gemma fails, we’re talking about a full-blown supernatural invasion. That’s a pretty interesting and crazy escalation.

Chase also knows how to squeeze the hell out of ordinary situations. This is a PG-13 horror movie that frequently feels nastier than its rating suggests, not because it’s throwing buckets of blood at the screen, but because it finds ways to make everyday objects and situations super uncomfortable.

A teeth cleaning becomes nightmare fuel. Garbage becomes horrifying. A pillow fort becomes a terrifying situation! Come on, man. Leave the pillow forts alone!

There are several genuinely effective jump scares in here, too. I’m talking about the kind where you know something terrible is probably coming, you’re staring at every corner of the frame trying to find it, and the movie still manages to nail you.

My wife was freaked out for most of the film. Every scare apparently became my physical problem as she physically attacked me when something jumped out. I consider that a pretty good endorsement for an Insidious movie.

If you’re someone spending the night alone, maybe don’t make Out of the Further your midnight movie before wandering around a dark house afterward. Unless you enjoy sprinting from the kitchen to your bedroom because your coat suddenly looks suspicious, or the shadows start moving in the corner of your eye.

The movie isn’t perfect, there are moments where the pacing gets a little wobbly. There are also some very convenient story developments and familiar horror clichés where you can practically feel the movie preparing to make exactly the decision you expect it to make. But once Out of the Further finds its groove, I was completely along for the ride.

The return of Lin Shaye as Elise also gives the story a welcome connection to the larger franchise. She’s still dead, but death has never exactly stopped her from showing up in these movies. Here, though, her role feels more focused as she helps explain what Gemma is capable of and what’s actually trying to break through from the Further.

Maisie Richardson-Sellers also gets to have some fun as Elise’s real-world proxy, while Brandon Perea brings an easy charm to the movie as Gemma’s boyfriend. But Island Austin was the standout for me. She gives Maya a natural personality and charm that helps make the family dynamic work, which becomes especially important when the supernatural insanity starts piling up.

Eve has the heaviest lifting to do, though, and she carries the movie well. Gemma gets dragged through a lot emotionally and physically, and Eve sells both the terror and the baggage her character has spent years trying to bury.

Then we hit the third act, and Out of the Further really starts cooking. This is where the larger concept pays off and the movie gets to have some serious fun with the rules established throughout the franchise.

There are surprises, connections to previous Insidious films, creepy reveals, and a few moments that had me wanting to cheer. Some twists are pretty easy to spot coming down the road, while others caught me off guard.

The film even circles back to elements from its opening and gives them more emotional weight. I appreciated that because it made the whole story feel more complete rather than simply using the beginning as an excuse to dump trauma onto its protagonist.

Look, Insidious: Out of the Further isn’t reinventing horror. It still has some familiar genre tricks, convenient plot mechanics, pacing bumps, and characters occasionally doing things that make you want to yell at the screen, but the movie delivered some great scares and nasty imagery that crawled into my brain.

I had a blast watching it! Insidious: Out of the Further delivered a fun horror movie! It takes the mythology fans already know, twists the rules enough to make things interesting again, and turns the whole thing into a creepy supernatural roller coaster.

It’s funny in the right places, super uncomfortable in others, packs some terrifying moments, and even finds room for a little heart between all the demonic insanity.

Is it better than the original Insidious? No. That first movie still owns a particularly nasty piece of real estate in my horror-loving brain, and Chapter 2 remains right up there with it. But Out of the Further is easily one of the stronger entries in the franchise. After six movies, that’s no small accomplishment.

Horror franchises can eventually start shambling around like the monsters they contain, technically alive but clearly running on fumes. Insidious: Out of the Further feels like somebody kicked this one awake, handed it a flashlight, opened the door to the Further, and said, “Go scare the crap out of everybody again.”