The Correct Order To Watch The Insidious Franchise

James Wan made ghosts scary again with "Insidious" (2011). Two years before his franchise breakout "The Conjuring," Wan and Blumhouse released "Insidious," a lean, mean, haunted house machine. At the time, horror's sensibilities had shifted elsewhere. The haunted house — and, resultantly, the ghosts that inhabited them — had been foreclosed. New-millennium anxieties replaced them, with imported horrors superseding the likes of domestic haunts. With the housing crisis in 2008, there weren't even homes left to haunt.

Decades earlier, Tobe Hooper's "Poltergeist" put the last, great spin on a familiar yarn. In shifting gothic scares to the suburbs, haunted houses gained more efficacy and relevancy than they had in years. Not until "Insidious" had the subgenre seen such a remarkable resurgence. In the years since, the digital ghosties of horror cinema might reasonably be called "Insidious"-lite. Wan made the unconventional choice to physicalize his haunt, cementing such specters as the red-faced demon as an iconographic, enduring horror villain. With the release of "Insidious: The Red Door," "Insidious" continues its run as a full-fledged franchise. With five films total, let's look at the correct order for watching one of this generation's best horror series. Spoilers follow.

"Insidious: The Last Key" (2018) might be the worst-received entry in the series, though with a box office haul of $167 million against a budget of $10 million, does it really matter? While positioned as the last installment (and for five years, it was), Whannell made it clear in an interview with WeGotitCovered that he intended to script another prequel, though one closer to the first film that allowed Lin Shaye's Rainier to expand her psychic powers. "The Last Key" is full Rainier, a deep dive into her traumatic childhood and the roots of her connection to realms beyond our own.

Directed by Adam Robitel of "The Taking of Deborah Logan" fame, "The Last Key" follows Rainier, Specs, and Tucker as they are unknowingly drawn to Rainier's childhood home to combat a long-dormant spirit from her past. While the franchise is fully in the realm of diminishing returns at this point, it is nonetheless a lovingly crafted ode to Shaye's Rainier. It's rare to see a horror series so firmly committed to an older protagonist, though Shaye's horror history makes it look like a cakewalk. Leading directly into the events of the first film, it's a worthwhile outing that gives Rainier one final showdown before her death in the Lamberts' home.

"Insidious: Chapter 2" (2013) is no "Insidious." Though still a blast, it's a bit too big — and a bit too interested in the Further — to work as a classically scary movie. It's worth remembering that the first "Insidious" starts as a conventional haunted house movie. It's not until the halfway point that it tonally (and narratively) shifts into something considerably higher-concept. Audiences then are challenged to either accept the talk of astral projection and other realms or not. If not, "Insidious: Chapter 2" won't do much to change their minds.

Opening with a flashback that is technically the earliest time the franchise has explored, "Chapter 2" principally follows the fallout of certain "Insidious" events, namely Rainier's murder at the hands of a possessed Josh. While no one saw him do it, the family just knows something is off with his behavior, leading to a quasi-riff on "The Shining" where Josh's possessed body attacks his family while his spirit is trapped elsewhere. At the time of release, it arguably concluded the Lambert saga for the franchise, though in the age of so-called trauma horror, it was only a matter of time before "Insidious" took the legacy sequel route. A decade later, that's precisely what it did.

The biggest argument for choosing to watch the "Insidious" movies — or any franchise — in order of release, rather than chronologically, is familiarity. While "Insidious: Chapter 3" and "Insidious: The Last Key" unfold before the first two entries in the series, they largely succeed because an audience already knows its key players, namely Lin Shaye's Elise Rainier. Prequels themselves largely operate as texturizing entries, adding new wrinkles, details, and insights into a larger narrative world that audiences recognize.

Were audiences to watch the films in order of release, they would start with "Insidious," move to "Insidious: Chapter 2," then "Chapter 3," followed by "The Last Key" and "The Red Door." Beyond the narrative rationale, it also provides an insightful window into the series' ever-evolving scares. While James Wan helmed the first two entries, other directors have stepped in since. Each delivers a distinct style and interpretation of the Further, and it's exciting to see how the scares develop over time. To wit, "Insidious: Chapter 3" is far more visceral and physical than the two chapters preceding it, while "The Last Key" is oppressively somber juxtaposed against the humor of "Chapter 2." No matter what order audiences decide on, "Insidious" rates as one of this century's most consistent horror franchises and well worth a watch regardless.