Insidious: Chapter 2

Insidious: Chapter 2
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	James Wan
Screenplay by	Leigh Whannell
Story by	James Wan Leigh Whannell
Produced by	Jason Blum Oren Peli
Starring	Patrick Wilson Rose Byrne Lin Shaye Ty Simpkins Barbara Hershey
Cinematography	John R. Leonetti
Edited by	Kirk Morri
Music by	Joseph Bishara
Production companies	Stage 6 Films Blumhouse Productions Oren Peli Productions Entertainment One IM Global (uncredited) Alliance Films (copyright holder)
Distributed by	FilmDistrict
Release date	September 13, 2013 (2013-09-13)
Running time	105 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$5 million
Box office	$161.9 million

Insidious: Chapter 2 is a 2013 American supernatural horror film directed by James Wan. It is a sequel to Insidious and the second installment in the Insidious film series. The film stars Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne reprising their roles as Josh and Renai Lambert, a husband and wife who seek to uncover the secret that has left them dangerously connected to the spirit world.

The film was released September 13, 2013. A prequel film, Insidious: Chapter 3, was released on June 5, 2015.

Plot

In 1986, Carl calls demonologist Elise Ranier to help discover what is haunting Lorraine Lambert's son, Josh. After hypnotizing Josh, Elise attempts to find the location of Josh's "friend", an old woman who appears in photographs of him. She makes her way to his bedroom closet and is clawed on the arm. When they return to Josh, he stands up in a trance, and says, "I'll show you," before walking to a door and pointing at it as he seemingly telekinetically opens on his own. Lorraine, Carl and Elise agree that making Josh forget his astral projection abilities is the best thing to do.

Twenty-five years later, Josh's wife Renai is under questioning by a detective about the death of Elise as seen in the first film. He asks her about the person in the photograph taken by Elise moments before she died, and warns Renai that if Josh's fingerprints match the fingerprints found at the scene, he will be in trouble.

Josh and Renai, along with their kids, relocate to Lorraine's house as the police investigate Elise's death. One night, Renai follows the sounds of a piano, only to find a music box. After settling her infant daughter, Cali, in bed, the piano begins to play again, although no one is found at the piano. Cali begins to cry and Renai finds her outside of her crib. She confronts Josh about this, but he suggests letting it go so that they can try to live a normal life again.

Specs and Tucker visit Elise's house and discover the "Lambert, Josh 1986" videotape amongst her work collection. Upon reviewing the tape, they find someone standing behind Josh in the video. Lorraine visits the children's bedroom where Dalton is sleep-talking, saying that someone is standing behind her. Lorraine eventually sees a woman in a white dress while looking in a mirror, but only finds Josh when she goes looking for her.

The next morning, Dalton tells Renai that he has been having bad dreams again, involving a woman in a white dress; as well as hearing Josh talk to an unseen figure in the hallway. While Josh takes the children to school, Renai receives a call from the police stating that the fingerprints do not match Josh. Her relief is disrupted by the presence of the woman in the white dress, who imitates Cali's cries. Renai finds the woman and is knocked unconscious. Josh finds Renai unconscious and hears a voice urging him to kill his family in order to stay alive.

Lorraine visits Elise's colleagues, Specs and Tucker, to seek an explanation behind the strange events. They show her the tape from 1986, enhanced to show adult Josh as the figure standing behind Josh. They contact Carl, who attempts to contact Elise using word-dice. Through the dice, they are told to find answers at the now abandoned "Our Lady of the Angels" hospital, where Lorraine used to work as doctor. The group visits the now abandoned hospital, and Carl sees things while entering a particular room. Lorraine recounts the story of a patient named Parker Crane who was admitted to the hospital, in that room, for trying to castrate himself. In a flashback, young Josh visits Parker in the hospital along with Lorraine, and is attacked by him. Some days later, Lorraine meets Parker in an elevator and apologizes for Josh and asks him to stay in his bed, but Parker doesn't respond at all. Upon exiting the elevator, Lorraine talks to a nurse asking why Parker is out of his bed. The nurse looks confused and explains to Lorraine that the patient in Room 104, Parker Crane, jumped to his death the day before.

Lorraine and the group then go to Parker's home where it is revealed that it was not Elise speaking through the dice, but Parker's mother. They find a secret room with 15 corpses in it, a black wedding gown and newspaper clippings about a killer referred to as "The Bride in Black," who kidnapped and murdered several people while dressed as a woman. Meanwhile, Josh's body begins to slowly deteriorate and Renai gets further proof that Josh is possessed when he is unable to remember the song she wrote for him.

Lorraine insists that she, Renai, and the kids get away from Josh. Carl arrives to drug Josh, but deduces that he is possessed by Parker and a fight breaks out. Carl is disarmed of the syringe and Parker begins to choke him to death. Specs and Tucker enter to help Carl, Tucker armed with a taser. Parker, however, manages to inject Tucker with the syringe who falls on Specs, giving Parker the opportunity to knock him out. Carl awakes in the spirit realm, where he meets the real Josh, and together they go into The Further to seek Elise. Josh enters his former house and travels to Cali's room, where an evil spirit is approaching his infant daughter. He intervenes and struggles with the spirit but is overpowered. Elise appears and banishes the spirit from the house. It is revealed that these actions are what triggered the mysterious event in the first film; including the alarm going off and the front door opening by itself.

In the real world, Josh - possessed by Parker - ambushes Lorraine and Renai. He attempts to choke Renai but is knocked over the head by Dalton. Renai and the children escape to the basement. Dalton falls asleep and returns to The Further to rescue his father. In The Further, the real Josh, Carl, and Elise try to track Parker down by revisiting Josh in 1986. It is revealed that the adult Josh asked his younger self to find Parker, and the three of them enter the door that opened when he pointed at. In Parker's house, the three witness Parker's mother, Michelle – the woman in the white dress – abusing him for acting like a male or referring to himself using his birth name; ideally, Michelle wants him to be a girl named Marilyn. Parker had killed his female victims at the behest of his mother's spirit, who also told him that killing Josh's family would sustain his new body (because Josh's body was rejecting his soul). Josh eventually finds the room filled with standing bodies - assumed to be Parker's victims. Upon finding Michelle, the two engage in a fight. Elise saves Josh by knocking Michelle out, which interrupts the possessed Josh's attempt to murder his family. Carl is informed by Elise that he is still alive; he and Josh make their escape, only to find Dalton, who leads them back to the living world. Renai is convinced that Josh has returned to his body when he mentions that he tried playing her song to get her attention – exactly what happened near the start of the film. Josh and Dalton voluntarily get their memories of their astral projection abilities erased through a hypnosis session, administered by Carl.

Some time later, Specs and Tucker proceed to a family's house whose daughter, Allison, is in an unexplained coma. Unbeknownst to them – but noticed by the youngest daughter of the family – Elise's spirit enters the home and approaches Allison. She hears a crackling sound (the same sound that signals the Red Faced Demon's presence) and gasps as she sees something standing in the shadows.

Cast

• Patrick Wilson as Josh Lambert/Parker Crane
  • Garrett Ryan as young Josh
• Rose Byrne as Renai Lambert
• Lin Shaye as Elise Ranier
  • Lindsay Seim as young Elise
• Ty Simpkins as Dalton Lambert
• Steve Coulter as Carl
  • Hank Harris as young Carl
• Barbara Hershey as Lorraine Lambert
  • Jocelin Donahue as young Lorraine
• Leigh Whannell as Specs
• Angus Sampson as Tucker
• Andrew Astor as Foster Lambert
• Danielle Bisutti as Michelle Crane/Woman in White
• Tom Fitzpatrick as Parker Crane/Bride in Black
  • Tyler Griffin as young Parker
• Michael Beach as Detective Sendal
• J. LaRose as Long-haired fiend
• Brooke Peoples as Neighbor Jessica
• Edwina Findley as Front Desk Nurse Hillary
• Stephanie Pearson as Dark-haired woman
• Jorge Pallo as Brian
• Priscilla Garita as Natalie
• Jenna Ortega as Annie
• Dannay Rodriguez as Allison

Production

Development

"It’s a direct continuation from the end of the first film, so it’s the same characters, same actors coming back. But where the first movie plays like a classic haunted house film, the second one plays more like a domestic thriller with supernatural elements to it."

—Wan, on the shift in genre

After the financial success of Insidious In April 2011, discussions for a sequel soon followed. With producer Jason Blum insisting on the return of director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell, a treatment script did not arrive until nearly a year later. "As long as there was a chance that James and Leigh were gonna write the second movie and direct the second movie, I didn’t want to do it with someone else," said Blum. "They kept saying they might do it, they might not do it, which was why there’s quite a bit of time between the two movies." On February 2, 2012, it was announced that director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell were in talks to return for the sequel.

While promoting The Conjuring (2013) at New York Comic Con in October 2012, Wan described how he and Whannell were working closely on developing the story and the script for the follow up to Insidious, explaining to ShockTilYouDrop.com, "I think the sequel to Insidious is kind of my reaction to Saw where for my own reason I wasn't as involved in the sequels, and so I felt with Insidious, think it would be good to shepherd it and keep it more in track to the version I had when I made the first film so that it doesn't detour too far."

The film was titled Insidious: Chapter 2 because it is a direct continuation of the first installment. However, the tone of the film was to be more grounded than in the first film, with Wan citing his work on The Conjuring as an influence to how he and Whannell approached Insidious: Chapter 2. "I pulled things from Insidious that I applied to The Conjuring, and what I learned from The Conjuring I applied to Insidious 2," said Wan. "So for me, I feel like it's a cumulative filmmaking experience that I've gathered over the years."

Casting

On November 19, 2012, it was officially announced that Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, and Ty Simpkins would reprise their roles from the first film. The following month, it was announced that Barbara Hershey would also be returning. In February 2013, Jocelin Donahue and Lindsay Seim rounded out the cast as younger versions of Hershey and Shaye's characters, respectively. It was also confirmed that the film's screenwriter Leigh Whannell and actor Angus Sampson would reprise their roles as Specs and Tucker, respectively. When asked about the return of the two characters, Whannell explained, "There was this hatred that spewed out from fans saying 'I hated those guys! They sucked! They ruined the movie!' so there will probably be a lot of people out there who will be disappointed to hear that the Specs and Tucker characters will be coming back."

Filming

Principal photography for Insidious: Chapter 2 began on January 15, 2013, in Los Angeles. Having a slightly higher production budget than its predecessor, the film was captured over the course of 25 shooting days. A bulk of the film was shot at a house in Highland Park, Los Angeles, which served as the location of Lorraine Lambert's house. Another location used for filming was the former Linda Vista Community Hospital, which was redressed as a hospital setting and used for the construction of interior sets (including recreations of sets from the first film). "I’ve never shot in Linda Vista," said Wan about the location. "It's kind of funny because Leigh and I have always heard so much about it. For research on the first one [Leigh] came here to do a bit of ghost-hunting. And I think a lot of that inspired us when we needed a hospital set."

Music

The musical score to Insidious: Chapter 2 is composed by Joseph Bishara, who previously collaborated with director James Wan on the first installment as well as The Conjuring. "Finding the right range and tone for the feeling is an important part," described Bishara on generating tension through sound. "James is very particular with sting placement along with Kirk, our editor on both Insidious films and Conjuring. Silence can create a listening space, where rather than give you something else to listen to it enables you to hear things."

A soundtrack album for the film was released digitally on September 15 and in physical forms on October 8, 2013 by Void Recordings. Additional songs featured in the film include:

• "Waiting For You" by Alan Ett
• "Piano Sonata in B-flat Minor, Op. 35, 3rd movement" by Frédéric Chopin

Distribution

Marketing

Prior to being officially announced, Sony Pictures Entertainment registered various domain names on November 28, 2011, for Insidious: Chapter 2. On January 30, 2013, the first picture from the set of the film was released via writer Leigh Whannell's Twitter account. Additional behind-the-scenes photos from the set of the film were released the following month. In April 2013, the first promotional poster for the film went on display at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. The first theatrical trailer for the film was screened to a live audience on location at the Linda Vista Community Hospital on June 4, 2013, with an online release the following day. On August 10, 2013, it was announced at the convention Scare L.A by producer Jason Blum and Universal's creative director John Murdy, that a maze attraction entitled "Insidious: Into the Further" will be featured at the 2013 Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood.

Theatrical release

While originally intended to be released on August 30, 2013, Insidious: Chapter 2 was rescheduled for a September 20 release date. The film's release date was later moved again to September 13, 2013,.

On the night prior to its theatrical wide release, the film was shown in select theatres as part of a double feature with the first installment. A red carpet premiere for the film was held in Los Angeles on September 10, 2013.

Release

Box office

Preliminary reports had the film tracking for a $32–$35 million debut in North America. The film earned $1.5 million from its Thursday night showings, and reached a $20 million Friday total, making it the biggest opening day in September box office history. It went on to be the number one film during its opening weekend, taking $41 million at the box office. The film grossed a worldwide total of $161,919,318 against a budget of $5 million.

Critical response

Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes sampled 110 reviews and judged 38% of the reviews to be positive. The site's consensus reads: "Insidious: Chapter 2 is decidedly short on the tension and surprises that made its predecessor so chilling." Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score of 40 out of 100 based on 30 reviews from mainstream critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Robbie Collin of The Telegraph gave the film a positive review, stating that "the scares are mostly very scary indeed, and that means the film does its job." Scott Foundas of Variety praised the "artfully eerie" cinematography work of John R. Leonetti and the "pervasively unsettling atmosphere" constructed by sound designer and editor Joe Dzuban. Foundas further wrote that "where so many sequels seem like mere remakes of their predecessors, with bigger budgets and less imagination, Insidious: Chapter 2 feels like a genuine continuation of characters we enjoyed getting to know the first time around, and wouldn’t at all mind returning to again." Conversely, Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times commented, "After the pleasurable free fall into old-fashioned nightmare artistry that was last summer's The Conjuring, this busy-yet-dull sequel feels like Wan robotically flexing his manipulation of fright-film signposts, an exercise more silly than sinister." Justin Lowe of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Setting aside the movie’s tediously lame dialogue, self-conscious performances and frequently predictable scares, the narrative’s compulsively shifting chronology intermittently manages to engage, although it does little to obscure the distracting shortcomings of both plot and character development."

Home media

The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD on December 10, 2013.

Prequel

Main article: Insidious: Chapter 3

On September 16, 2013, a third film in the series was announced with Leigh Whannell signed on to return as writer while Jason Blum and Oren Peli are also set to produce. When asked about returning for another sequel, actor Patrick Wilson went on to say that he "[doesn't] know where else it could go", and that "[Josh Lambert has] been through the wringer, and I think the movie sets it up well at the end [...] And that's great, that's how it should end." On March 11, 2014, it was reported that the third film wouldn't focus on the Lambert family, but would focus on a new family and story, that it wouldn't connect to the last teaser scene in the second film, and that Whannell and Sampson wouldn't return as ghost hunters Specs and Tucker. On May 7, 2014, Wan tweeted that Whannell would be directing the third film, which would mark his directorial debut. Stefanie Scott and Dermot Mulroney starred in the film. Focus Features and Stage 6 Films released the follow-up on June 5, 2015.

See also

• List of ghost films

External links

• Official website
• Insidious: Chapter 2 at IMDb
• Insidious: Chapter 2 at Box Office Mojo
• Insidious: Chapter 2 at Rotten Tomatoes
• Insidious: Chapter 2 at Metacritic