Welcome one and all to my review of the latest entry into the "Insidious" franchise: "Insidious The Last Key". Before I begin I would like to encourage you to leave me a comment in the section below or by following me on social media.
"Insidious The Last Key" was released on January 5th in the United States and the 12th in the UK. the film is the fourth entry in the franchise that is produced by "Blum House" and James Wan. "The Last Key" was originally supposed to be released in October but was pushed back in favour of "Happy Death Day".
"Insidious The Last Key" follows on from the 3rd entry of the franchise. Elise (Lin Shaye) is called back to her childhood home in New Mexico to help the houses current resident make sense of the haunting's that are taking place. Along with her compatriots, Specs (Leigh Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Sampson), Elise has to face the demons that plagued her past.
I would like first to make clear that I am a fan of the "Insidious" franchise so my opinions of "The Last Key" are largely positive. The story that is told in the film is a far different story than has been told in the previous entries. The audience is finally told the story of the real break out star of the entire franchise Elise. I will say "The Last Key" is not a conventional ghost story like the previous entries it is more of a tale of facing the ghosts of our past. The opening segment of the film that follows the story of Elise's family and their conflicting acceptance of her gifts is harrowing and uncomfortable but, subtly sets up the rest of the film. The story that is told in the "modern" era of the film is a little all over the place. In my opinion there is a little more explanation as to why the entity is making the houses inhabitants do what they do. The comic relief of Specs and Tucker is welcome but under utilised. The one issue I have with the plot is that there are new characters added into the story, namely Elise's brother Christian and his two daughters. The events of "The Last Key" take place before the first instalment of the franchise yet, there is no mention of Elise's new found family or the events that have taken place. I would also say that unlike the previous entries, "The Last Key" feels a little understated when it comes to the main antagonist. The finale and face off between Elise and the entity with keys for hands is very underwhelming, posing very little threat at all.
The cast of this film is a real redeeming feature. It really feels like a film that focuses on the hero of the entire franchise, Elise. Lin Shaye is wonderful throughout, mixing the strength of character to have gone through what she has with the vulnerability of being aware what the threat can really do. For an actor in their 70's she is far more engaging to watch than a lot of horror actors half her age. Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson are fine throughout. The one issue I have is that they have very little screen time other than to provide comic relief which is a shame. The new characters that appear in the film are a little underwhelming and over looked. Imogen (Caitlin Gerard) deserved a lot more screen time as her character showed real promise as did Melissa (Spencer Locke)
What I really enjoyed about "The Last Key" was that it stripped away a lot of the modern horror tropes that the previous entries have over used. There were very few quite/loud scenes allowing the story telling to speak for itself. Gone were the screeching string soundtrack, replaced with recurring musical breaks from the returning Joseph Bishara (The Lipstick Demon). The final scenes were a nice little call back to the original films that tied up the story arc well.
I'm not really sure what to make of "Insidious the Last Key". On one hand it felt like a slightly muted ending to a pretty good franchise. On the other it felt like a slightly understated introduction to a broader story to be told. So what's next for the "Insidious" franchise ? there is a rumour making it's rounds just now that "Blum House" are looking to merge the "Insidious" and "Sinister" franchises http://comicbook.com/horror/2018/01/10/insidious-sinister-movie-crossover/ which would be an interesting concept. What I would love to see is the exploration of the story that was teased at the end of the 2nd "Insidious" film.
Overall "Insidious The Last Key" is a decent enough outing in the franchise relying more on story telling and character rather than the horror tropes of old. Lin Shaye proves how great an actor she really is and how she has driven the franchise so far. With a little more development and a far better finale this film would have been a lot stronger. I would love to see Imogen and Melissa developed more if the franchise is to continue as I feel they would be more than capable of leading some new stories along side Specs and Tucker.
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