Insidious 2 & 3

With Chapter 1, the first half was widely considered better, and with Chapter 2, the second half is better. The buildup and first half here are messed up, jumping around non chronologically, using too many jump scares one after another and too much happening inbetween.

But Chapter 2 then takes the story further into The Further, and brings clever overlaps between the real world and The Further, where the dead and the alive communicate in their own ways to achieve their motivations. Insidious Chapter 2 has some creative scares, but also some overused cat scares.

However, it's second half brings more interesting backstory and a twist towards the table, and even the husband's possessed form reminded me of Jack Nicholson from The Shining after going ape nuts, which is a pretty good comparison.

I only prefer Chapter 1 for the simple reason that it was the first, and the "rules" of the franchise weren't as clear yet. Still, shrouds of mystery continue to arise, as a third chapter is easily hinted by it's ending.

 Rating: 7.5

Part 3 is a prequel concentrating on Elise Rainier’s background about going to retire from her connection with the Further until she is brought back to this dark world via a teenage girl who deeply misses her mother. Insidious: Chapter 3 is inferior to the other two in story and scares but it still isn’t average horror material and it develops Rainier’s character quite nicely.

But it is clearly apparent that if there will be a next title, the chance of it getting a lower score is even higher. Because that's what happens when publishers have discovered another horror franchise to milk out, and there are no exceptions to this rule.

Rating: 6.5