Insidious: The Last Key – Hopefully the last

We all know that, in horror movie terms, whenever a film has the word ‘last’ in the title it basically means ‘last-if-the-franchise-fails-to-turn-a-profit.’ To me, this ‘last’ instalment is long overdue.  I really enjoyed the first one, finding it really creepy (even though the plot was hardly anything new).  However, I seem to recall struggling to make it through the second outing and, I’m sorry to say, that this third one is more akin to the second than the first.

There’s nothing particularly ‘wrong’ with ‘Part 3,’ it’s more a case that anyone who’s ever seen a horror film will probably have seen everything here before, meaning you might as well just save yourself an hour and a half and watch a horror film you already own and know you’ll definitely enjoy.  However, I have to give the film credit for focusing on Lin Shaye’s characters.  Not only is she a more than capable actress and can easily shoulder a film, she’s also very easy to root for as a hero, plus it’s nice to see a horror film concentrate on an older actress, rather than the clichéd blonde teenage cheerleader types that are normally associated with starring in the genre.  It’s mainly about what happened to her character as a child and how her past is – literally – coming back to haunt her.

Of course there does need to be some teenagers thrown into the mix to satisfy the ‘youth’ audience and they’re about as generic as you can get.  Comic relief comes in the form of Shaye’s two helpers who constantly make wisecracks throughout the whole film.  However, the film really falls short when it comes to scares.  You get about five minutes of a character walking around a darkened room, followed by a ‘jump scare.’ This film-making technique is then repeated pretty much all the way through until the end.  And – apparently – that’s what passes as modern horror.

I’ll keep this review short as there’s little more I can say on it.  If you’re a mega-fan of the franchise I guess you have to watch this part just to see it off (if, of course, this truly is the end!).  Otherwise you’ve probably already seen better in the genre.

5/10 a hard trek, a bit like unicycling to Mordor and back