Insidious Chapter 2

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

Director: James Wan

Director James Wan loves to scare us and does so to some effect in this superior sequel to the original which takes up pretty much where the first film left off.

Josh (Wilson) is now possessed by something he brought back from the beyond, when rescuing his demonised son (Simpkins). Now apparitions beset his entire family and, deprived of paranormal investigator Elise (Shaye), who had her throat torn out at the end of the previous film, the family is forced to call on her spirit, via an old fellow-investigator (Coulter), to tell them what the Hell is going on.

Lots of creaking doors with black spaces behind, things that move by themselves, threatening apparitions and 'She's behind you!' moments ensue before Wilson is allowed to do the full Jack Nicholson at the climax, as he hunts down hapless wife Renai (Byrne), her two kids and grandmother Barbara Hershey - with a hammer.

The family's baby has been taken to safety before all this, presumably since menacing infants might be a bit much, and babies cry a lot anyway. It gets a bit silly at the end, when events don't quite hang together, but nonetheless horror fans won't feel short-changed by this one.

David Quinlan

USA 2013. UK Distributor: Entertainment One. Technicolor.
107 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 2, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 10 Sep 2013