‘Insidious: Out of the Further’ Sustains an Unsettling Atmosphere Before Running Out of Bite

Alci Rengifo

For most of its first act, “Insidious: Out of the Further” taps into a particular, primal fear. At least for a good portion of the audience, director Jacob Chase will have evoked the dread of sitting in a dentist’s chair. The fragility of teeth and the idea of someone poking around the dark, cavity-threatened inner sanctum of one’s mouth make for some strong scares. This is the sixth entry in a franchise that even at its weakest, has always played with an engaging visual language. Style has sometimes made up for redundant scripts. 2023’s “Insidious: The Red Door” was supposed to be the final chapter, but as tends to happen, studios find easy gimmicks for bringing anything back. This one makes a genuine attempt at justifying its existence, before stepping into familiar pitfalls.

Technically a newcomer will find no obstacles in following the plot, since it’s essentially a standalone story. Gemma (Amelia Eve) is a single mom and dental hygienist living with her young daughter Maya (Island Austin). Back in 1999, a child Gemma (played by Charli Penton) watched as her own mother was assaulted by a dark force that led to her death. For whatever reason, grown Gemma still lives in the house where the horrific event took place. She also has a supportive cop boyfriend, Nick (Brandon Perea). She will need plenty of support when dark entities start manifesting in her nightmares, which take on terrifying dimensions involving couches that turn into dark passageways and pale, wandering demonic figures promising shocks. Fans will naturally guess these spooks are reaching out from the franchise’s famous supernatural realm, the Further. The threat becomes even more real when it manifests physically on Gemma’s dental chair.

The look of the “Insidious” offshoots always have a particular, memorable tone, as with 2018’s “Insidious: The Last Key,” which this entry more closely resembles. Chase and cinematographer Dave Garbett build a true ambiance of dread in the early moments, finding skin-crawling ways to use Gemma’s profession as nightmare fuel. Among the oral jump scares there’s a scene where an elderly man (David Morgan) serving the demon Lester (Joseph Lopez) of the Further, creepily appears at Gemma’s clinic. When she has to check his teeth the scene is a rather brilliant gross out with perfect sound design and close-ups where just the scratch against tooth decay will make you squirm. A million good ideas for horror films focused on dentistry could be inspired by the moment. Just wait for the way it ends. In the Further there are also a few more good scares revolving around the idea of terrifying mouths and loose teeth. 

Once the movie kicks into franchise autopilot it starts losing its initial pull. Lester, who looks like he’s auditioning to front The Black Crowes, tends to just hover and snarl with the aim of using Gemma to cross over from the Further into our world with a pack of demons. Apparently, Gemma is one of those special chosen ones in horror who has a particular gift no one else in the last five movies possessed. She can bring things physically out of the Further. Aside from a few cameos by demons from the previous entries, Lester’s minions are a curious bunch. His main acolytes are a group of about three elderly people who move down the street and look very eerie, continuing a trend in horror of finding people of a certain age range frightening. When some of his other dark followers make it into Gemma’s house, the worst they can do is apparently lick the walls, dinner plates, cackle and munch on rodents. Not exactly Armageddon. 

Fans might cheer at the return of Elise (Lin Shaye), the franchise favorite fighter of demons, who died in 2011 but is now living in the Further. She communicates with Gemma through Clare (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), a medium and tattoo artist. At least the always enigmatic Lin Shaye still towers over the ageism regarding the villains, stealing the show when she appears to guide Gemma through the Further and knock out some demons. Yet, instead of getting more imaginative, the plot gets reduced to the barest “Insidious” necessities of lots of running, hiding, ducking and running some more. Nick gets thrown in with a few responsibilities like having to wake up Lester’s disciples to snap them out of the Further. The ending then crescendo’s with one of those silly resolutions where we wonder why Gemma hadn’t thought of turning the door knob much sooner. Joseph Bishara’s score provides the necessary loud pangs. What we are left with is one great dental scare, some impressive makeup work, atmospheric looks, and a wish that the rest of this movie could have lived up to its opening.

“Insidious: Out of the Further” releases Aug. 21 in theaters nationwide.