As its title suggests, Insidious: The Red Door, the fifth entry in the franchise, returns to the Lambert family to close the door on their ongoing saga with The Further. Set a decade after the events of Insidious: Chapter Two, star Patrick Wilson pulls double duty for this sequel, making his feature debut with a sentimental entry more interested in exploring buried secrets and family trauma than the paranormal. Less a sequel and more a continuation of Chapter Two, The Red Door gives a tender send-off to the Lamberts.
Flashback scenes from Chapter Two catch unfamiliar audiences up to speed; after young Dalton (Ty Simpkins) helps dad Josh (Wilson) escape the Further and return home, the family decides to suppress their memories. The idea, of course, is to prevent future astral projection wandering into the Further, closing the door on pervading entities hoping to cross into the real world. Harboring secrets of this magnitude hasn’t been kind to the Lambert family, but a death reopens old wounds as Dalton heads off to college. Old secrets refuse to stay buried, and the door to the Further busts wide open. Father and son must reckon with their past if they have any hope for a future.
Patrick Wilson in Screen Gems INSIDIOUS: THE RED DOOR, Photo credit: Nicole Rivelli
Written by Scott Teems and based on a story by Leigh Whannell, The Red Door evolves the Lambert family in an organic, affecting way. Its central thesis hinges on the erosion of family bonds when memories of this scale get suppressed. What happens when some family members, like Renai Lamber (Rose Byrne), must carry the burden of such secrets? Wilson ensures that repurposed footage from Chapter Two presents a clear picture of Josh’s possession and subsequent attempts to kill his family so The Red Door can mine that trauma through the estranged bond between Josh and Dalton. Both separately find themselves on a paranormal journey of self-discovery.
The Red Door is at its most interesting when following Dalton’s explorations of college life as his reawakening connection to the Further pervades. Now a young adult, Dalton’s typical exploration with self-identity out from under his dad’s shadow comes, and college navigation comes with terrifying visions. Some stem from his forgotten past, while others bring current nightmares from the Further. Dalton’s newly forged friendship with roommate Chris (Sinclair Daniel) breathes life into this more somber feature most of all. Daniel’s lively, more assertive personality brings levity when necessary and helps flesh out Dalton beyond his reserved, aloof artist persona. Conversely, Josh’s past offers little more than a few scares and drawn out questions.
Patrick Wilson in Screen Gems Insidious: The Red Door, Photo credit: Boris Martin
Wilson’s emphasis on family, specifically Josh and Dalton, means the denizens of the Further don’t factor as strongly into the story. Or rather, don’t expect any expansion of lore here. Familiar faces do get brought into the fold, but this is firmly the Lamberts’ story. Wilson does make this franchise entry his own in tone, style, and scares. On the latter, how Wilson toys with sound and tension-building lend unpredictable quality to the scares that render them effectual. But the reliance on Chapter Two footage and a lack of development on the mythology leaves the horror aspect of this story on the underwhelming side.
That it’s so intrinsically tied to Insidious: Chapter Two, complete with Chapter Two footage flashbacks, makes it more inaccessible to franchise newcomers than previous entries. Those hoping to learn more about the Lipstick Demon (Joseph Bishara) and the darkest corners of the Further may come away disappointed. The Red Door isn’t interested in the mythology but instead in examining how its ghosts fractured the family and whether their enduring love can make them whole again. Wilson reminds audiences why they fell for the Lambert family in the first place with a sentimental sequel that tenderly bids them farewell. While it doesn’t give a sense of finality to the Further or its ghostly inhabitants, it does offer poignant closure to the protagonists that started it all.
Insidious: The Red Door releases in theaters on July 7, 2023.
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