Richard Crouse

SYNOPSIS: In “Insidious: Out of the Further,” the sixth installment in the supernatural “Insidious” franchise now playing in theatres, a young mother’s explorations into The Further, the world of lost souls, causes her to be haunted by malevolent forces.

CAST: Amelia Eve, Brandon Perea, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Lin Shaye. Directed by Jacob Chase.

REVIEW: More of the same from the “Insidious” series after a few wobbly years, “Insidious: Out of the Further” plays on nostalgia with the return of franchise favorite Lin Shaye but freshens things up with a revolving door between the worlds of the dead and the living, and the introduction of a charismatic and chatty villain who resembles a cross between Ozzy Osbourne and an extra from a Marilyn Manson video.

A sequel to 2023s “Insidious: The Red Door,” the new film centers on Gemma (Amelia Eve), a young mom living in her childhood home with daughter Maya (Island Austin). Plagued dark and intense dreams that make her lose track of time, she is slowly losing her grip on reality.

At least she thinks they’re dreams. “Ever since she was born, it’s been just the two of us,” she says. “We were really happy … until I started having these dreams.”

Turns out, she is astrally projecting into The Further, a purgatory of lost souls. “You have a rare gift,” says psychic medium and paranormal investigator Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye), “the ability to travel into the realm between this world and the next one.”

Gemma’s “rare gift” comes fraught with real danger. “You can do something I didn’t know was possible,” says Elise. “You can bring demons back to the human world permanently.”

When The Further’s malevolent inhabitants see a pathway through Gemma to the real world, the boundary between their dominion and ours is breached. “When the dead rise,” says Elise, “it’ll be the end of the living.”

A 2020 “Science of Scare” study declared “Insidious,” the 2010 movie that kicked off the franchise, contained the most frightening jump scare ever. The intensity director James Wan captured in that sequence, unfortunately, has been diluted in the five subsequent films.

“Insidious: Out of the Further” does have its moments. Gemma’s journey through her daughter’s labyrinthine coach cushion fort is an effective exercise in claustrophobic horror, there are some mild jump scares, general uneasiness and icky tooth terror that may put you off scheduling a dentist appointment any time soon. It’s a bonus points that the creepy stuff is created using practical effects and that it maintains a connection to the franchise lore while being a standalone film. But there is nothing that comes close to matching Wan’s terrifying image of the Lipstick-Face Demon appearing behind new father Josh Lambert in the first film. Perhaps familiarity with the franchise tropes has created, if not contempt, then a mild disinterest for the secrets of The Further.

“Insidious: Out of the Further” rides the line between freshening things up and fan service, but, despite the introduction of new characters, it feels like it is out of new ideas.