The Insidious franchise has improved a lot over the year, with the first film being near the bottom half of the supernatural horror list for me, however from chapter 2 onwards I have been very much excited to see the adventures of Lin Shaye’s Elise and her sidekicks Specs (Leigh Whannell – Saw, Cooties) and Tucker (Angus Sampson – Mad Max Fury Road, Fargo Tv Series), but does this latest installment improve on her story or does it repeat the same mistakes the second half of the original Insidious made?
THERE WILL BE SPOILERS…….. BE WARNED!
The film itself starts of well as we are shown a bit more of Elise as a child who is just starting to realise her gift of seeing spirits. While her mother thinks it is a gift her father decides she is making it all up and proceeds to beat it out of her. In current day, and this time not set before the first film, Elise and her boys are contacted my a man plagued by the spirits in his new home. The new home in question being Elise’s family home, and the place where all the shit the messed her up in her younger years are still residing. Agreeing to go back to the ghosts (literally) of her past Elise is dragged into a dark world, where a demon with keys for fingers wants her to return to open the red doors hidden inside the further. We get to see the full back story of Elise’s childhood, the death of her Mother, the ghosts that haunt her home and the moment she ran away from the abusive father leaving her little brother alone to fend for himself. The Last Key throws a few Twists and turns into the mix but alas the film takes a downward spiral as we are introduced to Elise’s nieces Melissa (Spencer Locke – Cougar Town, Resident Evil: Extinction) Imogen (Caitlin Gerard – Magic Mike, The Social Network) and her now much older brother, which leads to Melissa being taken into the Further and Imogen revealing she can also see spirits.
This is the point where the film dips for me. Fine Imogen having psychic powers does make sense, it gives the franchise room to branch out with a new character in the obviously set up sequel, but it is the way the film handles it that annoys me. This whole second half of the film feels very rushed, we go from ‘I See Them Too!’ to everyone just accepting it. No scene between Elise and Imogen where they can bond, no words of warning for the poor girl just okay lets throw you right in to middle of it all with no words of advice. The film continues on its faster motion with jump scare after jump scare to an odd final showdown with ol’ Key Fingers and then all is resolved apparently.
Maybe I shouldn’t be too picky, I mean The Last Key is much better than a lot of the supernatural horror we have been getting as of late, but I just found it a huge shame to rush the final half. Extend it my 20 minutes and you would have had enough time to put in what was needed. What I did enjoy though was the twist reveals throughout the film, I didn’t expect a lot of what happened and the jump scare in the pipe where Elise was finding the suitcases, one you knew was coming, honestly made me jump. The ending of the film is an obvious sequel set up as we will be going back to the family of the first film, with a worse looking Darth Maul looking spirit from the looks of it.
Overall The Last Key is a worth while watch. This is in no way the best film the franchise has put out there and is more ofa back story / sequel set up film than anything, however it is not as bad as the final half of the first film. Lin Shayne makes the franchise what it is, her portrayal of Elise is the reason I keep going back to the series. Her role makes it worth watching as a whole. The jump scares are all over this film, some awfully set up but some genuinely fun set ups. This is worth your time so go catch it now.
THERE WILL BE SPOILERS…….. BE WARNED!
The film itself starts of well as we are shown a bit more of Elise as a child who is just starting to realise her gift of seeing spirits. While her mother thinks it is a gift her father decides she is making it all up and proceeds to beat it out of her. In current day, and this time not set before the first film, Elise and her boys are contacted my a man plagued by the spirits in his new home. The new home in question being Elise’s family home, and the place where all the shit the messed her up in her younger years are still residing. Agreeing to go back to the ghosts (literally) of her past Elise is dragged into a dark world, where a demon with keys for fingers wants her to return to open the red doors hidden inside the further. We get to see the full back story of Elise’s childhood, the death of her Mother, the ghosts that haunt her home and the moment she ran away from the abusive father leaving her little brother alone to fend for himself. The Last Key throws a few Twists and turns into the mix but alas the film takes a downward spiral as we are introduced to Elise’s nieces Melissa (Spencer Locke – Cougar Town, Resident Evil: Extinction) Imogen (Caitlin Gerard – Magic Mike, The Social Network) and her now much older brother, which leads to Melissa being taken into the Further and Imogen revealing she can also see spirits.
This is the point where the film dips for me. Fine Imogen having psychic powers does make sense, it gives the franchise room to branch out with a new character in the obviously set up sequel, but it is the way the film handles it that annoys me. This whole second half of the film feels very rushed, we go from ‘I See Them Too!’ to everyone just accepting it. No scene between Elise and Imogen where they can bond, no words of warning for the poor girl just okay lets throw you right in to middle of it all with no words of advice. The film continues on its faster motion with jump scare after jump scare to an odd final showdown with ol’ Key Fingers and then all is resolved apparently.
Maybe I shouldn’t be too picky, I mean The Last Key is much better than a lot of the supernatural horror we have been getting as of late, but I just found it a huge shame to rush the final half. Extend it my 20 minutes and you would have had enough time to put in what was needed. What I did enjoy though was the twist reveals throughout the film, I didn’t expect a lot of what happened and the jump scare in the pipe where Elise was finding the suitcases, one you knew was coming, honestly made me jump. The ending of the film is an obvious sequel set up as we will be going back to the family of the first film, with a worse looking Darth Maul looking spirit from the looks of it.
Overall The Last Key is a worth while watch. This is in no way the best film the franchise has put out there and is more ofa back story / sequel set up film than anything, however it is not as bad as the final half of the first film. Lin Shayne makes the franchise what it is, her portrayal of Elise is the reason I keep going back to the series. Her role makes it worth watching as a whole. The jump scares are all over this film, some awfully set up but some genuinely fun set ups. This is worth your time so go catch it now.
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