Insidious: Chapter 2 Reviews

Though there's some admirably clever plotting to interweave the film's second half with events in the original, it's simply not as scary.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10

Insidious: Chapter 2 is not only unnecessary but it commits the cardinal sin of devaluing its predecessor.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4

An increasing amount of metaphysical backtracking dilutes the few simple jolts that do work this time around.

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Most of Chapter 2 is unintentionally hilarious.

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Insidious: Chapter 2 follows the further misfortunes of the Lambert family with diminishing insidious rewards.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4

Wan is getting better and better at figuring out what to do with the camera, and maneuvering actors within a shot for maximum suspense, while letting his design collaborators do the rest.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

Yes, of course it's the sequel to 2010's Insidious, but it seems cobbled together from outtakes.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4

This is one of the more pointless follow-ups ever, just an assortment of scary-movie tropes randomly doled out, with unavoidable jolts at regular intervals.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5

All the standard spooks pop up: creepy baby toys, a piano that plays itself, a lady in white roaming the house, predictable jump-scares galore.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

A mess from start to finish -- though, judging by the ending, this story won't be over any time soon -- Insidious: Chapter 2 is the kind of lazy, halfhearted product that gives scary movies a bad name.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5

The problem is, Wan is reaching into the same old grab bag of shock scares, creaky-door sound effects, and ominous baby monitor voices he used in the far better original Insidious.

Full Review | Original Score: C-

Considering how creatively bankrupt and stylistically profligate this second installment of the franchise is, the new movie should really be called Insidious: Chapter 11.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4

[The film] might have been wackily entertaining if the whole thing weren't so sluggishly paced, poorly lit and dispiritingly unoriginal.

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Insidious: Chapter 2 picks up where the first story ended, but the sequel has enough scares, laughs and a story of its own to stand alone.

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If you're a fan of the post-Poltergeist shocks and scares offered up by the first Insidious, then you'll be thrilled to hear that Chapter 2 manages to jolt and unsettle without merely repeating itself.

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If Insidious 2 exists solely because Insidious 1 made a ton of money, then at least credit Wan for making quality control a priority.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

Chronic mediocrity continues to haunt this series exploring the terrors of demonic possession.

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A modestly scaled and highly pleasurable sequel to Wan's low-budget 2011 smash that should have genre fans begging for thirds.

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This busy-yet-dull sequel feels like Wan robotically flexing his manipulation of fright-film signposts, an exercise more silly than sinister.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

Comes upon a few quirky solutions and movie-ripoff scares before settling into a kind of coma.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

Been there, seen that.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4

If there is a fundamental flaw in Chapter 2, it's that it will make absolutely no sense unless you've seen the first one.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4

For all but the most forgiving horror fans, this is a lazy, stupid and incoherent failure.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5