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Justine Neill

Mr. Newman

English 101: Rhetoric

22 October 2014

Stay Insidious

The classic horror movie Saw aired in 2004 was only the beginning for writer Leigh

Whannell, she then collaborated with director James Wan in 2011 to create the movieInsidious

which was a break from all of the gore and designed as more of a suspense-thriller movie that

will keep your adrenaline pumping. The movieInsidious is about a family that is moving into an

old house, at first everything seems perfect and they are getting fresh start by moving, but during

the move the son, Dalton, falls off of a ladder and when taken to the hospital there is no sign of

any head trauma. He is in a coma, when he is brought back to the home still in the unconscious

state, strange things begin to happen such as things being moved by unseen hands and voices

from unseen faces over a baby monitor, but things get worse. Now there are apparitions of

people being seen by the family lurking around the house, finally enough is enough, the family

calls in a psychic named Elise to figure out what was happening. She finds a demon trying to

take Daltons helpless, unconscious body because his soul is stuck in the further, which is

where he goes while he dreams. Now he needs help getting out. AlthoughRoger Ebertand

Michael Phillipshave conflicting views on the tone of the movie, they both can conclude that

Insidious is a well directed movie and that the genre is effective.

In the two articles both of the authors touch on how the movie focuses on an effective

genre for scaring the audience in the fact that the director, James Wan, exercises tension and

nerve wracking music to keep the audience at the edge of their seats at all times. Compared to

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/insidious-2011http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/insidious-2011http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/insidious-2011http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-03-31/entertainment/sc-mov-0329-insidious-20110331_1_oren-peli-rose-byrne-poltergeisthttp://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-03-31/entertainment/sc-mov-0329-insidious-20110331_1_oren-peli-rose-byrne-poltergeisthttp://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-03-31/entertainment/sc-mov-0329-insidious-20110331_1_oren-peli-rose-byrne-poltergeisthttp://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/insidious-2011

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Wans previous movies like Sawwhich was an extreme gore film, this is a genre that seems

classic in contrast to Queasy-Cam gorefests (Ebert). The main point of this movie is to keep you

guessing and we can only glean that director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell

admire all sorts of fright, from the blatant to the insidiously subtle (Phillips). Both critics can

agree that the audience will receive what they came for which is a frightening series of pop outs

that will surely keep you paying attention and awake.

Although the critics agree on genre they do not agree on the tone used throughout the

movie, when the psychic, Elise, is brought in she has two assistants, who are quite different and

opposite of the movies tone and that causes the whole film to teeter on the edge of being a

comedy (Ebert). This is understandable point, asthe two assistants crack jokes and cannot seem

to do their jobs in a correct manner, but, on the flip side The makers of "Insidious"who

have, by the way, done a shrewd and scary job of making it (Phillips).

Despite their conflicting views on the general tone throughout the movie both of the

critics do maintain that Wans directing skills were applied well into the movie. There are so

many factors that have to be considered in order to make an effectively good scary movie and

some of the factors that were handled well were characters, atmosphere, sneaky happenings and

mounting dread (Ebert). Many movies will use images and music to increase the tension of

knowing something is about to happen, It's a matter of taste, of course. But "Insidious," nicely

acted by all and photographed in creepy, cold, under-lit tones by John R. Leonetti and David M.

Brewer (Phillips).

Although the two critics both had their differences in their opinions on the tone of the

movie both Phillips and Ebert can agree thatInsidious was directed well and that the genre of the

movie was effective as well.

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Works Cited

Phillips, Michael. "'Insidious': Haunted house or haunted boy?" Chicago Tribune

[Chicago, IL] 31 Mar. 2011: n. pag. articles.chicagotribune.com. Web. 21

Oct. 2014.

Ebert, Roger. "Insidious." rogerebert.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.