YMMV / Insidious

• Anti-Climax Boss: The Red-Faced Demon is feared by Elise for his Off Stage Villainy but what we actually see of Red Face is that he can take control of Dalton and perform poeerful telekinesis and that he is very close to possessing his physical body. Besides that, when Red Face gets beaten, Dalton and Josh manage to outrun him and don't even have to fight him head on so we don't get much of an idea of the demon's combat expertise in his true form. For how hyped up Red Face is, he only controls Dalton intermittently, and is ultimately defeated by...being trapped behind a door.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Just how villainous is Red Face? Elise loathes his presence but all we see is that he wants to possess Dalton's child body and later his adult body and do something For the Evulz while incarnate. Whenever someone dies in the series however, it's not by Red Face's hand but the supporting villains of The Further. Red Face even has a bizarre liking for Dalton and presumably Josh as he wants to keep Dalton inside his lair and even set up displays of Mannequins resembling Josh and Dalton performing historic moments in his lair like a Stalker without a Crush boasting a fascination for the duo.
• Better on DVD: Watching the series on discs or streaming helps as you can start at the chronologically first film of the series and see how the story develops from beginning to end. ^note The chronological order is: Chapter 3, The Last Key, Insidious (Chapter 1), Chapter 2, and The Red Door.
• Complete Monster:
  • Chapter 2: The Woman In White, aka Michelle Crane, is a vicious ghost. When she was mortal, she tormented her young son Parker after Parker's father left them. She'd force him into girls' clothing and a wig, refuse to let him call himself Parker and instead refer to him only as Marilyn, and physically abused him when he tried to stand up for himself. When Parker grew up, she forced him to become a twisted Serial Killer who would be dubbed The Bride In Black. Parker, at her urging, would claim fifteen victims before her death, whereupon he committed suicide. When her son possessed Josh, Michelle tried to get him to murder Josh's entire family, Josh's children included.
  • Chapter 3: "The Man Who Can't Breathe" is a particularly cruel spirit, obsessed with making others join him in death. The Man would torment vulnerable people into killing themselves, at which point he'd keep their souls as "pets" in the Further, where they rot in further misery. Having collected at least eight victims, the Man targets the depressed teenager Quinn, luring her into getting hit by a car and hospitalizing her. Relentlessly attacking Quinn, causing her further injuries and taking pieces of her soul, the Man eventually possesses Quinn into battering those trying to help her, telling her father that he's next. When Elise ventures into the Further to rescue Quinn, the Man takes the form of her deceased husband, Jack, and attempts to emotionally manipulate her into killing herself.
  • The Last Key: KeyFace, aka the Key Bearer or the Man with the Keys, is a monstrous spirit trying to open the gates of the Further. Tricking a young Elise into releasing him, KeyFace murders her mother, before attaching himself to her abusive father, Gerald. Feeding off their pain and hatred, KeyFace had Gerald kidnap, torture, and murder several women. Decades after Gerald's death, KeyFace would haunt their home's new owner into continuing Gerald's crimes. Forcing Elise's niece Melissa into a coma, KeyFace takes her to the Further, where he keeps the souls of his victims imprisoned and tormented continuously. When Elise and her other niece, Imogen, come to Melissa's rescue, KeyFace tries to coerce Elise into beating Gerald's soul for his past abuse, and feed off her hatred. Failing, KeyFace attempts to kill Melissa's physical body out of spite.
• Creepy Awesome: Elise. She's 100 pounds of creepy and awesome in a 10 pound bag.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Specs and Tucker are extremely popular with the fanbase. Elise is also popular enough that she became the deuteragonist of Chapter 3 and the main protagonist of The Last Key.
• Fan Nickname: The Lipstick-Faced Demon has a preferred alternative name of Red-Faced Demon or less frequently "The Man with the Fire in His Face" as they sound more menacing and match his status as the Big Bad.
• First Installment Wins: The original is arguably the premier movie of the series, kicking off the series with a classic haunted house story but with a twist in that it's not the house itself that's drawing in ghosts. Plus, the father refreshingly averts the Supernatural-Proof Father trope and doesn't mess around with his family's safety when they're in jeopardy, even moving the family to a new home in an attempt to throw off the ghosts harassing them.
• Funny Moments: Many with Specs and Tucker. In Chapter 2, the two of them encounter a spectre of Parker Crane as a child while dressed as a girl. He quietly warns them that about his mother, saying, "if she sees you [in the room], she'll make me kill you." They simply turn around and briskly walk out.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: In the beginning of Chapter 2, Elise refers to the spirit that's hounding young Josh as a "malignant presence". James Wan would go on to direct a film called Malignant in 2021.
• Ho Yay: Tucker and Specs. They're very close and often share some rather personal touches. It doesn't help that they bicker like an old married couple. Elise even says that it's clear that they "need each other."
• Iron Woobie: Elise, let's face it. She dies in the first film and yet takes it with stride, even telling Josh it isn't his fault she's now dead and telling Carl he did what he could to help the Lambert family. The third film takes it up to eleven to reveal she wasn't always the Cool Old Lady that she was, showing her as a pretty somber woman dealing with the loss of her husband, only to go back onto the supernatural wagon when she needed to help Quinn and her family. Not bad for a woman who's still helping even in death. And that's not even to the fact she was emotionally and physically abuse by a father who didn't understand her powers, and was tricked by a spirit into allowing it free only for it to kill her mother.
• Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Gerald Rainier stands out for his child abuse which he gets away with partly by hiding behind his executioner position at his prison. He is implied to be variably possessed by Key Face, but some of his original personality seems to already be abusive as it is. It's little wonder his children move on and almost pretend he didn't exist. In The Further, he gets a brief chance to apologize for his actions but gets turned to dust soon after like he vanished into the void.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • Even with the varying quality of the sequels, many horror fans still tune in just to get another helping of Lin Shaye.
  • A major draw for The Red Door was the return of Patrick Wilson and even Ty Simpkins who were largely Out of Focus in Chapter 3 and The Last Key. This film also has Joseph Bishara return to more actively reprise his role as the Red-faced Demon.
• Love to Hate: The Man with the Fire on His Face, AKA the Lipstick-Faced Demon has the distinction of be a very menacing villain, yet we don't see him ever kill anyone. However he presumably Would Hurt a Child and that can make him terrifying enough. Besides being the presumed ruler of The Further, his backstory is shrouded in mystery which helps make him even more fascinating. Joseph Bishara really owns the character and brings him to life on the silver screen, and was so convincing to Ty Simpkins (Dalton), that Ty had to be reassured that Joseph was just a human actor.
• Memetic Mutation: The demon appearing behind Josh, often used to illustrate Sinister Entity or Outcome X (e.g. Christmas pop music) sneaking up on Unsuspecting Person Y (e.g. retail workers in October).
• Narm:
  • The vomiting ghost in The Red Door says nothing but "Close the door!" when encountered which gets hammy at times and can sound like he's very upset over an HVAC bill.
  • In The Red Door, when Red Face has control of Dalton's body, Chris threatens to fuck him up, which provokes Red Face to make a guttural chuckle like he's finding his new body an amusing experience.
• Nightmare Retardant:
  • The viral marketing for the movie had an Alternate Reality Game called Voice From The Further, about a blog maintained by a woman who also mysteriously fell into a coma as a small child and is now trying to discover what happened to her. Some parts are genuinely creepy, mentioning ill-spirited ghosts and figures like the Redfaced Man, but then let down by obvious Photoshop jobs and amateur video. Case in point.
  • The scene where a kid changes the song in the Lamberts' second home and starts running around playfully. It's supposed to be creepy, but one might wonder why Renai's first response isn't at least attempting to ask the kid if they live around here and/or why they're running around the Lamberts' home. The fact that the kid is more clearly visible, unlike most of the ghosts, stands out as well making it merely feel like a kid in the neighborhood entered the home on a dare.
  • Some people thought the gas mask was funny rather than eerie, same with the little dancing kid.
  • One of the film's big scary moments is supposed to be when Josh discovers Dalton imprisoned in the Further with the demon, but since the demon has a penchant for listening to Tiny Tim, his infernal lair looks like the set of a Meatloaf video, and he's first properly shown cheerfully sharpening his claws while listening to his favorite tune. It can come across like the demon was expecting visitors and put on a cheesy display to look like a demon super villain to impress Josh.
  • The demon himself can be this, due in no small part to his more-than-passing resemblance to Darth Maul in a bad toupee. The stereotypical demon hooves might also come across as cheesy. He also enjoys playing Tiny Tim on his lair's phonograph player and is so obsessed with Dalton that he even creates a musem display of mannequins that resemble Josh and Dalton reenacting signature scenes from Chapter 1.
  • Also, the Long-Haired Fiend guarding the door to the Red-Faced Demon's lair isn't so bad once you get a pep talk, and unleash a Street Fighter move on him. He's basically just some buff dude with a lot of makeup on and both of his most significant scenes in either movie end with him getting his ass kicked, bringing to mind a WWE Heel Jobber.
  • The baby toys activating in the middle of the night doesn't come off as scary to anyone who has actually lived in a house with baby toys. They go off on their own all the time.
  • KeyFace as a demon who "locks you up" with keys may seem too cartoonish to take seriously. One scene has him play a game of "Chest Monster" with Elise which again may feel cartoony. Like the Long-Haired Fiend, he also gets blown away by a lantern like he has almost no mass.
• Spiritual Successor:
  • To Poltergeist (1982) and Poltergeist II: The Other Side with the first film covering Dalton's rescue from The Further, similar to Carol Anne being abducted to The Other Side. Like Poltergeist II, the Lamberts move into a relative's home to escape their trauma, but find no respite and have to confront the spirits who have followed them. Notably, Poltergeist III is analogous to The Red Door with Dalton moving away from home to move on with his life, but still having to face the Red-faced Demon with the help of loved ones, just like Carol Anne has to face Reverend Kane with support.
  • To A Nightmare on Elm Street with a dangerous "dream world" connecting the two works and Lin Shaye appearing in both works in some capacity. Insidious switches around the formula by making the dead of the astral world seek to possess bodies instead of murder them, and the Red Face Demon is like Freddy Krueger as a nigh-unstoppable villain with Wolverine Claws.
• She Really Can Act: Lin Shaye gets huge amount of praise for her acting in the films for playing a Creepy Awesome psychic who can face off demons despite her age, especially since newer fans will notice her as the one-off teacher from the original A Nightmare on Elm Street.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel:
  • There's still some cheese, sure, but at the very least, Chapter 2 does a good job of avoiding the first film's blunderous Narm. However, critics seem to think the opposite, judging by the fact that the film sports a 39% on Rotten Tomatoes in comparison to IMDB's 7.1 and Cinemascore's B+.
  • Critics considered Chapter 3 a step up from 2, with it sporting a 52% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • The whole plot point about Josh being suspected of Elise's murder seems like it is going to play a major role at the beginning of the second movie, only to be quickly dropped and never brought up again yet not completely. A little later in the film, Renai receives a phone call from the detective that interviewed her to let her know that the DNA tests showed it wasn't Josh that killed Elise. It was Josh's body that strangled Elise, yet the DNA provided on the wounds are not Josh's. So this is there to show just how much reach Parker Crane has, actually being able to change his host's fingerprints.
  • The epilogue of Chapter 2 shows Elise continuing to work cases with Specs and Tucker as a ghost. Since movies 3 and 4 are prequels to the original two films, however, we have yet to see this premise in action. As of The Red Door this plot with a ghost investigator who is also a ghost was shelved, with the focus almost exclusively on Dalton and Josh dealing with their Laser-Guided Amnesia while Red-Face Demon returns to complete his possession of Dalton.
• Took the Bad Film Seriously: Even though when a film catches a case of Sequelitis, Lin Shaye's performance is always considered a big positive.
• Tough Act to Follow: For some viewers and critics, the film's Nothing Is Scarier, first act was so strong, haunting and effective that they felt the second half (When Elise enters the picture and they enter The Further) failed to live up to it.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Renai in The Red Door. After Josh and Dalton were made to forget the events of the first two films, she spent the next decade hiding the truth from Josh and Dalton, even though it left Josh in a depressed state (plus with some cognitive issues, as we see that due to the block he even has trouble with simple memorization exercises) and caused a rift between him and Dalton. She did nothing to help Josh or fix the family, and eventually divorced him due to the stress, even then not giving the truth. When Josh confronts her about this, she even has the gall to get angry at ''Josh'' for putting her through something he had no control over, and very clearly puts most of the blame on him for why their family fell apart, never considering that Josh himself was actually a victim of Mind Rape. By the end, it's made clear that all of this could have been avoided if Renai just told Josh and Dalton the truth when things started going bad.
• The Woobie:
  • Dalton in the first film, a little kid who is basically trapped in Hell.
  • Parker Crane as a child especially when you see how his mother treated him. Becomes Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds as he grows old and post-death.
  • Despite some critiques due to Too Dumb to Live moments, Josh as well. He's a Deconstruction of the typical horror movie father: He's shown as very worried about what's wrong with his son, and when it comes to the supernatural aspects, he obviously dismisses them. But when he realizes they are true, he's willing to go with it, mainly because he wants to see his son again. The revelation that Parker Crane was constantly following him all his life, and then trapping him in the Further makes him more of a Woobie. Gets even worse in the fifth movie: sealing away his memories let him depressed and even impacted some of his cognitive abilities, leaving him in a state that his wife describes as "foggy". Then, due to the lingering impressions of these events, a rift starts growing between him and the son he fought so hard for, and instead of helping his wife decides to distance herself and their children from him, leaving him still foggy, but now also isolated. And then, once he finally regains his memories and can tell the truth to his son, he has to stay behind in the Further to close the door for good and avoid Dalton going through the same things he did.

---