This is really Insidious PREQUEL, but I guess Chapter 3 is more consistent with the branding?
You’re watching Beyond The Trailer’s review of another Elise Rainier adventure...
These days, the Insidious franchise has to hold onto whatever consistency it can. That’s
because it’s already suffered a number of deaths - off screen. Patrick Wilson walked
away from the movies that re-made him because he felt his character “had nowhere else
to go”, plus as an actor he’s now being offered a lot of other places that HE can
go. James Wan has also moved on to greener pastures - MUCH greener, as Furious 7 is one
of the fourth highest grossing film of all time. However, both will return to the horror
genre for The Conjuring 2 next year. And with Wilson gone, that meant Rose Byrne also had
to go, as did the rest of their “family”. That left Lin Shaye as parapsychologist Elise
Rainier so horror producer extraordinaire Jason Blum and Wan’s former creative partner
Leigh Whannell decided to hold onto her tightly - again, consistency. Because let’s face
it, as a prequel they could’ve cast a younger actress as Elise Rainier and continued the
franchise as a kind of paranormal Indiana Jones... They already cast a younger actress
as Elise Rainier for the flashback scenes in Insidious Chapter 2, although Shaye dubbed
over her own voice. Would a star-vehicle for an up and coming actress have been the smarter
move, rather than consistency? We’ll see. And what we will see is a movie now written
AND directed by Leigh Whannell, who’s trying to forge his own identity independent from
super-star Wan. For instance the upcoming Cooties is co-written by Whannell and he also
has a supporting role there - just as he has in the Insidious films and the Saw films.
Isn’t it ironic that Whannell wanted to be the one on screen, yet Wan still ended
up the more famous of the two... Joining him on screen is an up and coming actress, Stefanie
Scott who also co-stars in Blum’s upcoming Jem and the Holograms remake. By the way,
fellow Hologram Hayley Kiyoko also appears here. Scott is taking on the Patrick Wilson
role - the possessed. So I guess that makes Dermot Mulroney our new Rose Byrne? I’m
sure Mulroney doesn’t care either way, as he’s in need of being re-made himself these
days with his movie career slowed down to crawl. And of course, The Bride in Black also
returns... So is there enough consistency here that you recognize the beloved and incredibly
lucrative Insidious franchise? Or is this third film haunted by
shadows of
the first two entries...?