It’s a real shame that the “Insidious” series would go back to its roots with “The Red Door” and end up being probably the worse entry in the franchise yet. Patrick Wilson is a fine enough director, but “The Red Door” is such a misfire that you can’t even really call it a cash grab. It feels a lot like the studios attempts to add some sense of closure to the Lambert family, but rather than this emotional journey through the Further, all they hand us is a half baked rip off of “The Babadook.” And that’s saying a lot since I’ve been such a fan of the “Insidious” series since it arrived in 2011. But these films have done so much better, even with “The Last Key.”
The horror franchise’s original cast returns for the final chapter of the Lambert family’s terrifying saga. To put their demons to rest once and for all, Josh (Patrick Wilson) and a college-aged Dalton (Ty Simpkins) must go deeper into The Further than ever before, facing their family’s dark past and a host of new and more horrifying terrors that lurk behind the red door.
“The Red Door” watches so much like they built this family drama about past demons and then injected and tacked on the actual horror elements. For a while, “The Red Door” almost seems to forget that it’s a horror movie, and zeroes in a lot on the whole familial drama and dysfunction ad boredom. To make matters worse, the Lambert family doesn’t really fare well after the sequel to “Insidious” with now dad Josh and wife Renai divorced. Josh is also at wits end with his now grown son Dalton, who resents his dad for their past and the broken relationship. The activities begin once Dalton enters in to college, and his art class coincidentally begins triggering his supernatural abilities.
Why? How? We’re never explained. What is it about Dalton’s art that’s linked to his doorway in to The Further? Who knows, really? Is just happens to move the narrative forward. Dad Josh and Dalton don’t do much to share time on-screen, as they both experience different quests involving the red door and red faced demon. They eventually converge in such an unemotional battle that so much of the dynamic and tension is completely lost. “The Red Door” doesn’t invoke an interesting mystery at all, and feels kind of forced in to the lore of “Insidious,” and when it runs out of ideas just riffs on “The Babadook.” The heavy handed themes about grief, and death, and finding a way to conquer it rather than let it consume you feels so derivative and hackneyed, I was so disappointed.
Factor in that Elise and her sidekicks from Spectral Sightings only make a passing cameo, and “The Red Door” just disappoints. If there’s any consolation, it’s newcomer Sinclair Daniel, who plays Dalton’s new college friend and roommate Chris Winslow. As Dalton’s unlikely partner in facing the Further, she’s charming, funny, charismatic, and really helps keep the movie lively. She literally steals every scene, which is a feat in a movie centered on horrifying ghosts. I truly hope we can see more from Daniel very soon. That said, “The Red Door” is a sorely disappointing epilogue to the Lambert Family saga. I wish we’d left on better terms with a movie dripping with terror and emotions, rather than what feels like a chore.