Insidious: Chapter 3
Rent & Buy
A prequel set before the haunting of the Lambert family that reveals how gifted psychic Elise Rainier reluctantly agrees to use her ability to contact the dead in order to help a teenage girl who has been targeted by a dangerous supernatural entity.
What critics thought
Critics were sharply divided on this Lin Shaye-centered prequel, with some finding genuine emotional depth and effective craft in series newcomer Leigh Whannell's directorial debut, while others dismissed it as a jump-scare machine that never generates real dread. The central debate was whether the film's unusually sincere grief motif elevates familiar franchise mechanics or merely distracts from how routine those mechanics are.
“It manages the all-important jump scares with the finesse of a skilled stage illusionist, but it's the surprisingly sincere emotional core that makes it the pick of the series.”
Tim Robey·The Telegraph
“The motif of grief runs throughout Insidious: Chapter 3, which is surprisingly thematically rich for the third installment of a horror franchise. This emotional undercurrent informs the fright scenes, which otherwise lean rather heavily on jump scares.”
Katie Rife·The A.V. Club
“Chief among things that go bump in the night in Insidious: Chapter 3 is the movie itself—a thuddingly dull prequel to James Wan's very enjoyable (and highly profitable) demonic-possession horror franchise.”
Scott Foundas·Variety
“Insidious: Chapter 3 is simply not scary. Not a bit, not a whit. Except that the audience will be terrified of the next stabbing of their eardrums, at generally predictable intervals.”
Michael Ordoña·San Francisco Chronicle
“They say the third time's the charm. Not with the Insidious series, it isn't. Admittedly, installment #3 is an improvement over #2, but it fails to reach the highs of the chilling-but-uneven original.”
James Berardinelli·ReelViews
Parents guide
- Violence
- moderate
- Sex
- none
- Profanity
- mild
- Substances
- none
- Intensity
- severe
Genres
Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Cast & Crew
Leigh WhannellDirector
Stefanie ScottQuinn Brenner
Lin ShayeElise Rainier
Dermot MulroneySean BrennerLeigh WhannellSpecs
Angus SampsonTucker
Steve CoulterCarl
Hayley KiyokoMaggie
Tom GallopDr. Henderson
Tate BerneyAlex Brenner
Corbett TuckDanielle
Tom FitzpatrickBride in Black
Jeris PoindexterHarry
Joseph BisharaComposerFrom the studio
Insidious: Chapter 3
A prequel set before the haunting of the Lambert family that reveals how gifted psychic Elise Rainier reluctantly agrees to use her ability to contact the dead in order to help a teenage girl who has been targeted by a dangerous supernatural entity.
What critics thought
Critics were sharply divided on this Lin Shaye-centered prequel, with some finding genuine emotional depth and effective craft in series newcomer Leigh Whannell's directorial debut, while others dismissed it as a jump-scare machine that never generates real dread. The central debate was whether the film's unusually sincere grief motif elevates familiar franchise mechanics or merely distracts from how routine those mechanics are.
“It manages the all-important jump scares with the finesse of a skilled stage illusionist, but it's the surprisingly sincere emotional core that makes it the pick of the series.”
Tim Robey·The Telegraph
“The motif of grief runs throughout Insidious: Chapter 3, which is surprisingly thematically rich for the third installment of a horror franchise. This emotional undercurrent informs the fright scenes, which otherwise lean rather heavily on jump scares.”
Katie Rife·The A.V. Club
“Chief among things that go bump in the night in Insidious: Chapter 3 is the movie itself—a thuddingly dull prequel to James Wan's very enjoyable (and highly profitable) demonic-possession horror franchise.”
Scott Foundas·Variety
“Insidious: Chapter 3 is simply not scary. Not a bit, not a whit. Except that the audience will be terrified of the next stabbing of their eardrums, at generally predictable intervals.”
Michael Ordoña·San Francisco Chronicle
“They say the third time's the charm. Not with the Insidious series, it isn't. Admittedly, installment #3 is an improvement over #2, but it fails to reach the highs of the chilling-but-uneven original.”
James Berardinelli·ReelViews
Parents guide
- Violence
- moderate
- Sex
- none
- Profanity
- mild
- Substances
- none
- Intensity
- severe
Genres
Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Cast & Crew
Leigh WhannellDirectorStefanie ScottQuinn BrennerLin ShayeElise RainierDermot MulroneySean BrennerLeigh WhannellSpecsAngus SampsonTuckerSteve CoulterCarlHayley KiyokoMaggieTom GallopDr. HendersonTate BerneyAlex BrennerCorbett TuckDanielleTom FitzpatrickBride in BlackJeris PoindexterHarryJoseph BisharaComposerFrom the studio
Rent & Buy