Should it still be titled "Chapter 3" if it's a prequel? But as a prequel, it's not bad an installment.
Leigh Whannel took over the directing role from James Wan after Wan announced his retirement from the horror genre. (That is until Warner Bros. offered him a DC project in return for him to do The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist.)
And that's the biggest part missing in this installment, Wan's direction. I miss his camera movements and competencies in building up suspense. The only involvement from Wan, it seems, was his acting bit as the theatre director.
The story by Whannel this time was a very simple one. What I enjoyed about it was the links back to the first two movies. I really liked the back story to Lyn Shaye's character, the beginning of her friendship with Whannel and Angus Sampson's characters, and that rivalry with the figure cloaked in black.
Dermot Mulroney was serviceable. At least he didn't play a character that was too in denial - we've seen enough of that. Stefanie Scott was just alright as the main plot device. Whannel and Sampson were in the right dosage to provide some comic relief, although their jokes didn't hit as hard as they used to.
I liked how Whannel again did not include a lot of cheap scares. Those never sit well with me. But then again, there weren't any bits that were so scary that became memorable. The trips to the "astral plane" this time were not as scary too.
I would say this movie was still very story driven, but the story itself was just too simple.
Still, it worked as a horror movie; but it isn't be one that I would be recommending heavily.
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