Insidious (7/10)

Being a fan of Saw naturally made one a fan of James Wan and Leigh Whannel. So when this came along, even though I am not a fan of watching horror flicks at the cinema, I couldn't resist it.

Reasons why I don't like watching horror flicks at the cinema: Sound effects are too loud, people screaming for no reason, my heart is still pumping so I don't need it to be artificially defibrillated.

However, most of the scares here were done quite tastefully. Though I have to admit the first half of the scares with ghosts could have been done without. But Wan didn't overdo any of them and kept them on a leash of telling the story and moving it along.

The scene with Patrick Wilson's character going into denial, I thought was unnecessary because he should have been convinced already with what he saw to the messed-up room. But then again, he didn't deny the existence of spirits so that was still acceptable.

The second half I thought was brilliant. From the moment the concept for the story came in, the chills never stopped. Wan and Whannel once again were able to create a very scary sequence that left you holding your breath for a good 10 minutes. Every moment felt literally like a torture.

Wan also brought back his signature move, which usually happens towards the end when the twist was revealed - but this time there weren't any twist to the story, yet I wasn't disappointed; and his signature move was still effective.

The ending was really strong. The last couple of minutes were bone-chilling, culminating to the final moment and then the cold violin-scraping-like sound came in. Goose bumps.