Insidious: Chapter 2 Reviews
Grantland
Most of [Wan's] peers shoot a bunch of scenes and let the editor make a smoothie. Wan no longer relies on visual gibberish. He has become a classicist in that sense.
Daily Star
Clever isn't the same as scary. It's the unexplained, not the over-explained, that tingles the spine.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1/5
Cinemalogue.com
It relies on cheap thrills and fails to generate consistent suspense, while lacking the sharp sense of humor that kept the first film from bogging down.
Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)
Alas, the tension and fright remain mostly invisible in "Insidious: Chapter 2," the disappointing sequel to the terrific "Insidious."
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
Spectrum (St. George, Utah)
Amps up the scares without breaking any new ground while offering more layers and less gore than most films in this genre.
Full Review
| Original Score: B
The Ooh Tray
The movie finds itself haunted by a three-headed beast: incoherence, illogicality and contrivance.
Shadows on the Wall
Wan and Whannell return to their 2011 hit with a vengeance, gleefully filling in the story before, after and even during that first chapter with even more gonzo nuttiness.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/5
Salt Lake Tribune
Director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell generate some cool scares and clever comic relief from Elise's junior colleagues, but a viewing of the first movie would benefit newbies.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
SSG Syndicate
Tedious and repetitive, it concludes with yet another creepy cliffhanger.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/10
jackiekcooper.com
A clumsy and muddled follow up to the original; toomany tricks and not enough treats.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/10
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Chapter 2 might be the better film, though, frankly, it's hard to separate the two pictures. I honestly have never seen a sequel that's as completely organic as this one.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Seven Days
Egregious would be a better title than Insidious.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/10
AV Club
Characters in Whannell/Wan screenplays speak with the first-draft expository bluntness of a cheap '50s thriller, letting the characters step on some of the best reveals.
Full Review
| Original Score: C+
Antagony & Ecstasy
The most slapped-together, pointless, allover terrible horror film of 2013; and I will remind you that 2013 bore witness to Texas Chainsaw 3D.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1/10
Flick Filosopher
The simple elegance of the first film has been lost in a jumbled mess that sometimes hits on fresh angles on ghost stories but most often is shoddy, sloppy, and lazy.
ToddGilchrist.com
A sprawling, idiosyncratic film that attempts to recontextualize the events of its predecessor, Wan's sequel is ambitious but shortsighted, creepy but cartoonish, but utterly watchable.
Killer Movie Reviews
it's Wilson who dominates the screen with a finely calibrated exploration of mental, physical, and moral decay
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Irish Times
Less than two months after securing a deserved word-of-mouth hit with The Conjuring, James Wan serves up a turkey with this confused, crudely staged sequel.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
TheMovieReport.com
Falls short, especially when much of the would-be frights shoulder on Wilson's overwrought and rather embarrassing attempt at echoing Jack Nicholson in THE SHINING.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1/4
