Insidious: The Last Key

Insidious: The Last Key

Starring Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Kirk Acevedo

Directed by Adam Robitel

The Story:

Demonolgist Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) has seen dead people since she was a child, and we get to see her childhood as she struggles with her abilities against a deadbeat father (Josh Stewart) who beats her for her abilities.  In modern day, she receives a call of help from Ted Garza (Kirk Acevedo), who lives in her childhood home.  She reluctantly agrees to go in order to face the demons of her own past and hopefully rid the house of the evil spirits once and for all.

The Synopsis:
The "Insidious" franchise is a unique one - it's a franchise that technically shouldn't exist.  The first film was revolutionary for the horror genre due to it's natural ability to be downright frightening, and added the particular concept of The Further - a different world where spirits dwelt.  The evil spirit was scary (even if he resembled Darth Maul), the cast was capable and proficient, the directing was top-notch, and the script was solid.

The ending of the first film seemed to tie up everything in a neat little package, while also leaving a bit behind that could possibly have been explored in a sequel.  That sequel did indeed happen, but then that's where things began to spiral apart.  The third film was a prequel that told the story of Elise Rainier, and while it too was decent, it caused the entire franchise to begin to collapse on itself due to its convoluted storylines and timelines.  Now, with "The Last Key," the franchise has entirely jumped the rails and hopefully will be the final film in the franchise, because it does tie up everything in a nearly perfect circular pattern, even if it doesn't make a whole lot of sense in the grand scheme of things.

At first, it seemed that the heart of the "Insidious" franchise was with the Lambert family, but secondary character Elise stole the show, and became the focal point the subsequent sequels.  This is no small part due to the tremendous acting and physical presence of 74-year-old Lin Shaye, who endures excruciating stunts in all four films that women half her age wouldn't dare attempt.  She has this presence about her that draws you to her and she delivers a nuanced performance that is continually endearing.  She is the decent part of "The Last Key" - along with a surprise twist near the end that made for an intriguing premise - but that's all the positive I can say about the film.

While it was nice seeing young Elise and how she used her gift early on, it also became a muddied mess that, like roots to a tree, scattered everywhere.  We were introduced to characters that were supposed to be important - or at least, I thought they would be - but turned out to be red herrings.  Then there's other characters that were seemingly crucial to Elise's own story that were never fully developed.  Then her sidekicks were given more humorous lines, which generally fell totally flat and even turned a bit creepy when they kept hitting on two girls who were way younger than they were (their ages were never mentioned, but to me they looked like they'd be teenagers, way too young for two middle-aged men to hit on).  Finally there's the aspect of The Further, which was used so frequently and effectively in the past, but here it seemed more of an afterthought.  Not a lot of time was spent there, and it was nowhere near as frightening as in the previous installments.

While the series features their own unique "Big Bads" - the Lipstick-Faced Demon from the first, the Bride in Black from the second, the Man Who Can't Breathe in the third - "The Last Key" featured the lamest of them all: KeyFace.  He had keys for hands that opened...something?  I wasn't entirely sure the purpose of that, because even though the whole concept of this film was "the last key," we don't really know what it is.  Yes, it's supposed to open some very bad doors, but it still doesn't use that idea effectively - basically because it was trying to tell several other stories as well.

Which is a shame, because Lin Shaye deserves a lot better.

The Summary:
Even though the first film was a spark of genius, each subsequent sequel has diminished in quality.  Even though Lin Shaye carries it, I hope that the title holds true and this is indeed the "last" film in this tired franchise.

The Score: B-