Insidious
It's not the house that's haunted.
When their son falls into an inexplicable coma, Josh and Renai Lambert learn he hasn't simply fallen asleep—he's wandered into the Further, an astral realm inhabited by malevolent entities. To bring him back, they must confront the creatures that hold him captive and banish the supernatural forces haunting their home. A dizzying descent into the spaces between worlds unfolds.
A $1.5 million budget, nearly $100 million worldwide: the most profitable film of 2011, Insidious marks James Wan's return between Saw and The Conjuring and sets a template for PG-13 supernatural horror — astral projection, the Further, contaminated domestic spaces — that would shape the decade. More than the first chapter of a franchise, it is its benchmark: the reference against which every later entry would be measured, by audiences and distributors alike. Killing Elise in the final scene seemed to close a door; it actually posed the question the next four films would answer: how does a franchise survive the loss of its anchor?
