Some rules are made to be broken, others are worth obeying. When it came to making “Insidious,” director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell had a pretty good rule in place. In a behind-the-scenes video of the horror movie, Whannell says, “I think scary jumps have become overused in modern horror movies. So one of the rules we had for this movie, one of little commandments that I had when I was writing the film, there are no false fears.”
Wan continues, “If you try so hard to piss off the audience and build it up, I want my gain to be real.” And Whannell adds, “If you’re going to give them the trauma of a big scare, make it real. Make it the bad guy who makes his presence known.”
As someone who enjoys a good jump scare and hated cheap, cat jumping out of the closet, I really appreciate that Wan and Whannell followed this rule. It also explains why “Insidious” works so well – the fears are real. Nobody is scared by a misunderstanding here – they are afraid of ghosts. Now the only question is: will the latest “Insidious” movie, “Insidious: The Red Door”, which will be released on July 7, 2023, follow the same rule? I guess we’ll find-BOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got you.