Insidious (2011)

All Critics (163) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (108) | Rotten (55) | DVD (11)

Not so much insidious as inexcusable.

April 27, 2011 Full Review

Nigel Floyd

Time Out

Top Critic

Wan and Whannell have, in effect, ripped pages from the "Poltergeist" playbook and stripped the formulas down to old-style gothic scares.

April 11, 2011 Full Review | Comments (3)

Bruce Diones

New Yorker

Top Critic

If there's a complaint to be made about Insidious, it's that the film's second half is unable to live up to the impossibly high standards set by the first half.

April 3, 2011 Full Review | Comments (17)

James Berardinelli

ReelViews

Top Critic

Insidious isn't scary. It's laughable. And kind of sad.

April 1, 2011 Full Review | Comments (88)

Tom Long

Detroit News

Top Critic

There's little new here. And what is new isn't well done.

April 1, 2011 Full Review | Comments (6)

Stephen Whitty

Newark Star-Ledger

Top Critic

Nothing slows down a movie down like people sitting around a living room discussing the meaning of "astral projection."

April 1, 2011 Full Review | Comments (11)

Liam Lacey

Globe and Mail

Top Critic

Insidious is effectively creepy and is able to provide some great horror elements without the gore.

June 2, 2013 Full Review

Amy Curtis

We Got This Covered

After a suspenseful and shock-filled first hour, it loses control and veers off into routine supernatural silliness. I hate it when that happens.

February 15, 2013 Full Review

Steve Newton

Georgia Straight

The best horror movies get the audience talking back to the screen. "Insidious" manages that, and how...

January 9, 2013 Full Review

Roger Moore

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

About as subtle as a fart at a séance

September 27, 2012 Full Review | Comment (1)

Matt Looker

TheShiznit.co.uk

There's nothing wrong with its standard set up which has an unsuspecting family haunted by spirits. However, when it comes time for the film to follow through on the plotline, we find out the filmmakers weren't quite up to the task.

September 20, 2012 Full Review

Jeff Beck

Examiner.com

Reminds of those mazes during Halloween, where figures jump out of the shadows and attempt to scare you--and one look at them beyond a second reveals them to be obnoxious people in even more obnoxious makeup.

April 8, 2012 Full Review

Michael Dequina

TheMovieReport.com

Insidious clearly borrows from several sources, but where it fails as a narrative, it succeeds as a shock-a-minute fright fest with plenty of atmosphere and dread.

January 29, 2012 Full Review

R. L. Shaffer

IGN DVD

The ending struggles to explain too much and take itself a bit too literally, but mostly Insidious is an engaging treat.

September 9, 2011 Full Review

Eric Melin

Scene-Stealers.com

It may be an essentially shallow ride, but it will make you scared of the dark again. It is a strangely comforting to be reminded of what that feels like.

August 16, 2011 Full Review | Comment (1)

Andrew Simpson

Fan The Fire

There is much to recommend in this reunion of the creative forces behind the dazzling first Saw movie.

July 14, 2011 Full Review

Ben Rawson-Jones

Digital Spy

For all its creaky-old-dark-house cliches, Insidious is a fun ghost-train ride, full of truly terrifying moments. But once it's over, it's forgotten.

July 4, 2011 Full Review | Comments (3)

David Michael Brown

Empire Magazine Australasia

Director James Wan here proves himself very adept at building dramatic tension and making you anxious about the things going on in your peripheral vision.

June 16, 2011 Full Review

Jim Schembri

The Age (Australia)

Is this reminding you of anything? Like, say 77.2% of any horror movies ever made?

May 20, 2011 Full Review

Grae Drake

Movies.com

Insidious is certainly part of a great tradition of scary films, but it's a little too bland and visually unappealing to be memorable.

May 14, 2011 Full Review

Thomas Caldwell

Cinema Autopsy

They're having such a joke on us because there is a ridiculous element to it and one of the things that I think they fall into the trap of showing too much. Horror and being scared is much more effective without actually seeing.

May 12, 2011 Full Review | Comments (7)

Margaret Pomeranz

At the Movies (Australia)

If the film was attempting to be more than just a horror movie, it doesn't work on that level either.

May 12, 2011 Full Review

David Stratton

At the Movies (Australia)

Insidious is very much a 21st century modern horror movie, which is to say it's more interested in tricks and scares than 'horror'.

May 12, 2011 Full Review

Peter Galvin

sbs.com.au

Insidious is happy enough with elevating your breathing pattern every now and then, as opposed to choking you outright with one shock after another.

May 12, 2011 Full Review

Leigh Paatsch

Herald Sun (Australia)

While the third act descends into silliness, for the most part this is a superbly crafted and genuinely scary flick that borrows brilliantly from horror classics.

May 12, 2011 Full Review

Matthew Pejkovic

FILMINK (Australia)

It's intelligent, it's well-paced, it's packed with both unsettling scenes and pop-up shocks that never feel cheap.

May 12, 2011 Full Review

Anthony Morris

The Vine

• 1. Elise Rainier: You're now outside... Let my voice be your guide... Keep a steady stride... Into the further you go...
  – Submitted by Zack B (7 months ago)
• 1. Dalton Lambert: Oh my god daddy, he's looking..
  – Submitted by Joco d (10 months ago)
• 1. Lipstick-Face Demon: Where is it, I want it, give it to me, I want it and I want it NOW!
  – Submitted by Connor N (10 months ago)
• 1. Elise Rainier: It's not the house that is haunted. It's your son.
  – Submitted by Bria M (12 months ago)
• 1. Tucker: Helps weed out the nut jobs.
  – Submitted by Katlyn B (16 months ago)
• 1. Dalton Lambert: Last night I watched myself sleep. Then I flew away.
  – Submitted by Isabella K (18 months ago)