Patrick Wilson returns to the Insidious franchise as an actor with Insidious: The Red Door, and makes his debut as a director. The focus shifts back to the Lambert family as Wilson delivers a satisfying conclusion to the family’s terrifying journey into The Further, a chilling realm inhabited by supernatural beings. The Red Door centres around the story of a son’s attempts to forgive his father, adding emotional depth to the horror thriller.
The Red Door takes place nine years after the events of Insidious: Chapter 2. Josh (Patrick Wilson) and his son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) decide to erase their previous memories in order to protect themselves from the malevolent entities in The Further. However, their happiness is short-lived. The traumatic experiences with the Lipstick-Face Demon have left psychological scars that have fractured their family. Josh, in particular, struggles with increasing brain fog, while Dalton finds solace in art.
The death of Josh’s mother and Dalton’s subsequent departure for college strain the Lamberts further, providing an opportunity for the supernatural spirits of The Further to once again attempt to cross over to the world of the living. Dalton’s art teacher encourages him to explore his subconscious as he works on a painting of a red door from his nightmares. Through these sessions, revelations about his connection to the spirit world emerge, intensifying his relationship with Josh and fuelling the hunger of the restless spirits.
The movie shines when it delves into the interplay between horror and drama, particularly in the exploration of the dynamic between Josh and Dalton, skillfully portrayed by the sincere performances of Wilson and Simpkins. The movie treads on the theme of the ‘sins of the father’ and the subsequent reconciliation. Simpkins, in particular, strikes a delicate balance between the expected angst of an 18-year-old and his suspicion about Josh, maintaining vulnerability in a character that could easily have become a clichéd brooding artist.
Josh confronts his own inner demons too. As a child, he was haunted by entities from The Further but struggled to confront the attacks on his family. In The Red Door, Wilson portrays Josh as a harried and fragmented version of his former self, excelling in moments where the character is barely holding himself together. But the increased focus on Josh and Dalton’s story arcs meant Josh’s wife Renai (Rose Byrne) and their other son Foster (Andrew Astor) being reduced to mere sounding boards.
The Red Door effectively generates tension in quieter moments, which sustains the film even during less impactful jump scares. The skillfully-crafted long takes build up tension, leaving viewers on the edge of their seats. While the Insidious films are known for their jump scares, the most creative and engaging moments in The Red Door lie in the anticipation leading up to those scares. Wilson relies on extended shots to establish the series' signature eerie atmosphere.
Despite successfully building a sense of dread, the movie suffers from an excess of jump scares that do not always rely on careful buildup. Some of these moments may startle the audience, but they lack innovation and fail to contribute significantly to the overall substance of the film.
And while Josh and Dalton put an end to their suffering — and misunderstanding — by sealing off the Red Door in the end, a post-credit scene hints that their efforts may have been in vain. The gateway to The Further may still be open, keeping hopes alive for another chapter in the franchise.
