Insidious

A Hodge Podge of Horror

Director: James Wan

Writer: Leigh Whannell

Stars: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Ty Simpkins, Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Barbara Hershey

RANT: I'm sure that everyone thinks that I would be reviewing Hop today. But I am sure that I will not need to add my two cents in for that sure-fire hit. And since I am always amazed at horror films that come out at any point outside of Autumn, Insidious caught my attention.

SYNOPSIS: A couple and their three children are haunted. When they move into a new home and the hauntings continue, they make the realization that the hauntings are not coming from the house, but from their comatose son.

The writers and directors of Dead Silence and a couple Saw films come back to the screen with another stab at scaring us out of our seats. While Saw spawned a franchise and a small devoted fan base, James Wan and Leigh Whannell flailed with the creepy dummies of Dead Silence. Now, with sharp violin strings and a couple of boys that could double as a Damien stand-in (but in a good way), Wan and Whannell try again at the genre that brought them some success.

Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson) and his wife Renai (Rose Byrne) move into a new home with their two sons and baby daughter, hoping for a fresh start. Of course, the outside of the house does not reflect the deep wood trim, endless staircases, creaking floorboards or squeaky door that leads to a musty, gray attic space. A couple days in, and the older son finds himself exploring the attic, hearing noises like twigs breaking, falling down, and his parents finding him comatose the next morning. Over the next three months, Renai starts seeing ghosts in their house and begs Josh to move again.

Wan and Whannell bring a couple cool ideas to Insidious. When the hauntings follow the Lamberts to the new house - which breaks the cardinal rule a la Poltergeist - the story takes a sweet turn by making the son haunted instead of the house. And Wan does some nice cinematography to make the new, more modern abode seem as creepy as the older model. Barbara Hershey enters in the second act as Josh's mother with a hidden family secret that most smart horror movie goers had already figured out to some degree with the first family photo that Renai unpacked, twice!

And again tipping the hat to Poltergeist, enter Lin Shaye as Elise Rainier, a medium and reserved ghost hunter. Preceding her are his two ghost hunter cohorts Specs (the writer Leigh Whannell - who is quite watchable) and slovenly Tucker (Angus Sampson). The trio actually steal the show while they are on-camera, even over Patrick Wilson's tortured husband and father and Rose Byrne's tortured and haunted mother and wife. While Lin Shaye is no Zelda Rubenstein, she does look cool in a Cold War-era modified gas mask. James Wan pulls the curtain back from the Insidious beyond, called the Further, allowing us to see what Carol Anne might have endured while in the spirit world.

I was prepared to be scared throughout. Wan and Whannell took the high road by not giving the audience the obvious frights. Sprinklings of The Sixth Sense, Thirteen Ghosts, Poltergeist, The Ring and other films, Insidious eventually disappoints with a weak, almost 1950s B-movie ghoul fest climax. I did jump once, with the fire-branded demon behind Josh. And a series of childhood photographs produced a couple of goose bumps, too.

Now I know why Insidious made an April release date. It was an April's Fools prank on me!

WORTH: Netflix

Black Swan

Brutal, But Beautiful Ballet

[Natalie Portman. Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder]

image from screenrant.com

RANT: Still another trip to the theater leads to another rant about the lack of etiquette during the show. I was happy as a pig in slop, enjoying the aisle seat with 3 empties to my left. After the previews started, a mass of people continued to funnel in. All passed me by for seats higher up. I ended up with a pair of 20-something girls who talked through the whole movie – as if they were 10-year-olds. If you want to add a commentary track, watch it at home on bootleg!

SYNOPSIS: A career dancer is desperate to be selected for the lead in a surreal production of Swan Lake. Cast to play both the White Swan and Black Swan, she must embrace both the frailty and vulnerability of the white and the seductive, darkness of the black – to destructive results.

Director Darren Aronofsky, best known for The Wrestler and The Fountain, brings a surreal, twisted version of Swan Lake to the screen through Black Swan. Educating us in the story of Swan Lake itself, the story also serves as the backdrop for Nina Sayers' (Natalie Portman) journey. After being in the ballet dance company for several years, she is a veteran dancer dedicated and driven to be cast in the main role of a ballet production. She is technically perfect but lacks emotional passion. When she is tasked to play the Black Swan role in addition to the White Swan, production director Thomas (Vincent Cassel) forces her to let go of the mechanics of the dance and focus on the fluid chaos of the darker role.

But the role of the Swan Queen (both White Swan and Black Swan) is only the catalyst that drives all that follows. Seeming to be unable to let go of her vulnerabilities, Nina notices the new carefree transfer dancer, Lily (Mila Kunis). Jealous of Lily's abilities, Nina is both worried that Lily will take her role and strangely drawn to her spirited nature. In Nina's personal life, she is a slave to her mother's will - a once-promising ballet dancer forced to end her career while pregnant with Nina. In addition, Nina is torn about Thomas' previous leading lady, Beth (Winona Ryder) who is being forced into retirement due to her age and poor performance attendance.

As the opening performance looms closer, Nina is puzzled by strange occurrences on and off stage. She finds both her mind and body betraying her. Is she slipping into madness? Is she destroying her frailty in favor of a new darker, erotic self? Is she actually becoming the black swan? Art and life and art intertwine, the audience never knowing what is real and what is surreal.

I cannot recommend this movie to everyone. It is brilliant, shedding light on the brutality of the preparation and the beauty of the performance. Black Swan is erotic, suspenseful and beautiful. But it may cross the lines that some patrons may be unwilling and not ready to face.

Worth: Matinee and DVD

I am also trying out a new rating system shown below based on reader reaction to my somewhat complex monetary rating scale. I will give both ratings and see what kind of reaction I muster. A movie can receive up to 5 popcorn buckets. Why popcorn buckets? Because I am a slave to the thousand + calorie delight! Enjoy!