I join “CTV News Toronto at Five” with anchor Zuraidah Alman to talk about the fantasy of “The Magic Faraway Tree,” the horrors of “Insidious: Out of the Further,” the character study of “The Rivals of Amziah King” and the drama of “Late Fame.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 18:26)
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 15:15)
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Akshay Tandon to talk about the fantasy of “The Magic Faraway Tree,” the horrors of “Insidious: Out of the Further,” the character study of “The Rivals of Amziah King” and the drama of “Late Fame.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
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.
If parents weren’t already considering limiting their kid’s screen time they certainly will after seeing “Come Play,” a new horror film starring Gillian Jacobs and “Westworld’s” John Gallagher Jr. and now playing in theatres. In fact, parents might even think about getting rid of every smartphone in the house.
Jacobs plays Sarah, mother of Oliver (Azhy Robertson), a young autistic boy who has trouble making friends with the other kids in his class. The youngster passes time by playing on his tablet, reading a picture book about misunderstood monsters. When the book’s monster, a long-limbed skeletal creature who looks like the Slender Man and a Mugwump had a baby, escapes Oliver’s device Sarah must fight her own disbelief and later, a real threat to her family.
“Come Play” began life as “Larry,” a short film by Jacob Chase and for better and for worse, Chase hasn’t changed the story that much for its adaptation to feature length.
Part of the beauty of “Come Play” is its simplicity. A study in friendship, the effects of loneliness and divorce and the complicated relationships kids have with “the other,” the movie is a slow burn that gives the viewer time to immerse themselves in Oliver’s world. It effectively builds an atmosphere of evolving tension, but it takes time.
Chase isn’t interested in easy scares, he’s making something larger, a monster movie that is an allegory for childhood loneliness and alienation. There is the odd jump scare but the tension comes from the story’s suspense and the connection to the characters. Oddly, for a monster movie of a sort, the creature is the least compelling part of the film. His bony limps and toothy snarl are the stuff of nightmares but the story is about much more than a boogeyman.
Unfortunately, I can’t tell you more without giving away a plot point but I can say that the creature, Larry, represents more than simple terror.
“Come Play” is short on story but long on ideas. It’s a horror film that isn’t afraid to not be outright scary. Instead it mines psychological and primal fears to create an unsettling story.
