One Of The Scariest Scenes In Insidious Is Right Behind You
(Welcome to Scariest Scene Ever, a column dedicated to the most pulse-pounding moments in horror with your tour guides, horror experts Chris Evangelista and Matt Donato. In this edition, Matt takes you into The Further with "Insidious.")
Before James Wan aced the 2013 period exorcism film "The Conjuring" — and kickstarted The Conjurverse — Wan and Leigh Whannell reinvigorated the contemporary possession subgenre with "Insidious." The Lamberts' encounters with The Further spawned a frightful franchise that's just released its fifth entry with Patrick Wilson's directorial debut "Insidious: The Red Door," outpaced by Wan's Conjurverse but still an impressive run thus far. Although, few will argue that there's any "Insidious" film better than 2010's original. Wan created the "Torture Porn" era with "Saw" and then turned the page to hauntings right after starting with "Insidious," asserting Wan as a prime horror tastemaker of the 2000s.
There are plenty of primo scares in "Insidious," but none better than my selection. It's used in the trailer, we all saw it over and over, yet that didn't make a lick of difference. Tiny Tim tries to steal the spotlight, and there are plenty of Further moments that send a shockwave of chills — like I said, "Insidious" packs the screams in real tight. Let's just get to the inevitable already.
The setup
"Insidious" is a family horror story about Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai Lambert (Rose Byrne), their sons Dalton (Ty Simpkins) and Foster (Andrew Astor), plus littlest Cali. Dalton slips into an unexplainable coma that weighs heavily on the family, and which doctors cannot diagnose. All we know is that Dalton went into an attic shortly before and encountered something or someone. With no answers, the Lamberts take Dalton back home where they can watch over the unconscious boy — and that's when paranormal experiences start to occur.
The story so far
Renai first blames their house for a long-haired apparition and bloody handprints on beds, so they move into a new residence. Unfortunately, supernatural activity does not cease. Josh's mother Lorraine (Barbara Hershey) comes over one day to have a conversation, because she vividly dreams about a red-faced demon in Dalton's bedroom. Josh and Renai sit around their dining room table listening to Lorraine recount what she saw as a possible reason for Dalton's coma. It's a wild accusation, but one that doesn't seem farfetched when the scare officially hits.
The scene
This won't be a very long explanation because it's like a lightning bolt — blink and you miss it.
Lorraine sits at the table describing her dream. The camera fixates on her, then cuts away for brief snippets to capture either Josh or Renai's transfixed gazes as she talks about ghouls and nightmares. Lorraine details how she floated through Josh and Renai's home, down their hallway, and first into their bedroom. "I knew I was asleep in the dream, but I could feel someone was awake in the house."
Next, Lorraine describes going into Dalton's room. The door swings open with a never-been-oiled creak, slowly to reveal Dalton's bed. Lorraine says this is where she saw the figure, and just as the door clears the whole room, an inhuman form stands crammed into the farthest corner, staring back at the camera. It's a bone-chilling sight itself, but still isn't the crowning scare.
"I asked it, 'Who are you?' It said it was a visitor."
"I said what do you want."
The figure reaches out its curly-clawed hand and slowly points at Dalton's motionless body, like tree branches crackling as they sway.
As Lorraine recounts this terrifying encounter, she's looking toward the floor. The camera cuts to Renai, then to Josh, both of whom worriedly gaze at Lorraine as she seems rattled by her dream. It's midday, and there's nothing but a conversation happening. Lorraine stops for a beat, frozen with fear, and we hear that same crackly noise off-camera. Lorraine looks at Josh and sees the demon hunched behind her son, as it opens its hellish mouth to taunt Lorraine. She shrieks and leaps out of her chair, but neither Josh nor Renai sees Lipstick-Face Demon.
The impact (Chris' take)
Jump scares are tricky things. Many horror filmmakers like to use what I think of as "cheap" jump scares. I'm talking about moments when a cat jumps out of a closet, or some innocuous character suddenly pops into the frame accompanied by the loudest musical sting you've ever heard. These are not just cheap scares, they're also lazy. There's nothing behind them other than a moment of shock.
Then there are the good jump scares. I'm talking about scares that actually amount to something. And there are two that I think are up there near the top of the list. One is a scare from "The Exorcist III," in which a nurse is stalked by a robed figure brandishing a pair of head-removing shears. The other scare? Why it's this very one we're talking about!
In a behind-the-scenes feature for the film, Leigh Whannell said: "I think that jump scares have become overused in modern horror films. So one of the rules we had for this film, one of the little commandments I had when I was writing the film, is no false scares." And James Wan added: "If you're gonna go to such great effort to set the audience on edge and you're building it up, I want my payoff to be real."
I saw "Insidious" in theaters when it opened and even now I can remember the audience losing their minds during this particular scare. It's a build-up moment — there's plenty of dread baked into the scene, and yet the sudden appearance of that horrible red face feels like it comes out of nowhere. Framing is also key to the scene, with the demon's face partially obscured by Patrick Wilson, who looks on with a blank expression, completely unaware of the horror behind him.