Insidious - Blu-ray Review

4.2 Stars (out of 5)

Synopsis                             

After moving into a new home, Josh (Patrick Wilson) and his wife Renai (Rose Byrne) confront terrifying tribulations when their son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) falls into a coma and his body starts to attract malevolent forces from a mysterious netherworld. But when the family decides to move again, hoping to leave the evil spirits behind, they realize that their problems are just beginning. Buy Now $19.99

Starring:

Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Ty Simpkins, Andrew Astor, Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Barbara Hershey, Heather Tocquigny

Director:

James Wan

Blu-ray Release Date:

July 12, 2011

Subtitles:

English, English SDH, Spanish

Rating

Overall rating weighted as follows:
Audio 40%, Video 40%, Special Features 20%, Movie - its just our opinion so take it with a grain of salt

Audio 4.6 Stars (out of 5)

Dolby and DTS Demo Discs used as basis for comparison
●        Subwoofer – 4.5 Stars
●        Dialog – 5.0 Stars
●        Surround Effects – 4.0 Stars
●        Dynamic Range – 5.0 Stars

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

This movie starts off very quiet, without much use of a musical score. It does a good job of setting up the movie by using faint sounds of drafts, creaking doors, and creepy echoing whispers that fill the room and rule the soundstage. The crisp audio brings sounds to life, even annoying ones like a shrill house alarm that attached my ears like a new born baby’s screams. As the film progresses, the DTS-HD Master mix becomes more active. Heavy footsteps in the darkness seam sinister, and even whipping ceilng fans seam to have unsavory agenda. By end of the movie, we are in full scary movie mode heavy bass accents intensify the scares, whispers become screams, and the house even rattles in fear. It became intense enough to make my kids come downstairs to tell me to turn it down, because they were scared.

Video  4.5 Stars (out of 5)

Spears & Munsil Benchmark Blu-ray Edition used as basis for comparison
●        Color Accuracy  - 4.0 Stars
●        Shadow detail – 5.0 Stars
●        Clarity – 4.0 Stars
●        Skin tones – 4.5 Stars
●        Compression – 5.0 Stars

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC, Resolution: 1080p, Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1, Original Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

The color palette of Insidious is dead and pale. This color choice seams to make the darks darker, and any bright colors tends to stand out. This play on light and color pays off when red colors and shadows become important in the film. Even though there are a considerable amount of dark scenes in this film, they are handled well. No blocking is visible in the darkness and any details in the shadows are seen without strain. The clarity is average and features detail on plaid shirts, and wrinkles on faces.

Bonus Features 2.5 Stars (out of 5)

• Horror 101: The Exclusive Seminar (1080p, 10:27): Interviews with writer Leigh Whannell and Director James Wan.
• On Set with Insidious (1080p, 8:15): Behind the scenes featurette
• Insidious Entities (1080p, 6:32): A look at the creation of the film's nonhuman characters.
• Previews: Additional Sony titles.
• BD-Live.

Movie – 3.5 Stars (out of 5)

Review

Insidious is a small creepy ghost story that capitalizes on writing and direction to make this PG-13 film scarier than it should be. The film was written and directed by the same team that created the highly successful Saw films. Instead of focusing on gore and shock value of their earlier works, they utilized tone and actor performances to make this one of the scariest movies I’ve seen in a while. It’s rare that Hollywood creates an original movie. Even though this is a ghost story, there are a few twists that change up the genre and make this movie stand out in the crowd. For one thing, when weird things start happening, they actually move out of the house, I was shocked! I’ve never seen this in a ghost story. However, this is still not a perfect movie.

The movie is great until the third act. It becomes a little goofy, and the characters do things that don’t really make since. Halfway though the film, new characters are introduced and the tone slightly changed and a bit of comedy is introduced. It seams a little out of place, but it isn’t a major issue for the film. By the way, the word Insidious means treacherous, but it also means proceeding and a gradual and subtle way, with harmful effects. After watching the film, I have to say it’s a perfect name for this movie. Not only does if define the plot of the film, it also matches the tone.