Insidious: Out of the Further (2026)

Score: 2.5 / 5

I had rather hoped the series would end with the wrapping of the Lambert story in its fifth installment, The Red Door. But the Further indeed goes further this summer, and its diminishing returns are a disappointing validation of my hope. 

Insidious: Out of the Further continues its franchise-building in this sixth installment. Instead of continuing the trends of Chapter 3 and The Last Key in following medium and psychic Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) in other paranormal investigations of her long career, the film decides to start a new story. Well, mostly. At the risk of spoiling a key moment for you who might be interested (and who haven't seen any trailers or cast lists), Elise does indeed show up to mentor and save this new protagonist, but it's only in the Further. Because of course, at the end of the first film, she dies. It seems she is continuing her work of shepherding people through the Further and safeguarding the living who enter it, a sort of posthumous chaperone delaying her own rest for the good of others. 

And boy, do we need help. The Further, the series' concept of another dimension like limbo, is bursting with the dead. Ghosts and demons lurk in its ever-swirling misty darkness, and they crave escape and the chance to live again. so when dental hygienist and single mother Gemma (Amelia Eve, of The Haunting of Bly Manor) starts astral projecting, they swarm. Gemma is just trying to have a normal life with her daughter Maya and her cop boyfriend Nick (Brandon Perea, of Nope and Twisters), but she's haunted by memories of her mother, who killed herself twenty years prior. After that upsetting opening sequence, we learn that her mother was mentally unwell through a smattering of flashbacks. What's spooky is that Gemma is starting to act in similar ways, paired well through visual design and composition for our viewing benefit. While she may not be fully conscious of her astral projecting, she is keenly aware that spooky, ghastly figures are stalking her and often invading her home, which is also her childhood house. 

Unfortunately, the film spends far too much time on other elements of plot and theme to be really coherent. The film I just described would have been lovely, especially once Gemma meets Elise and they start ghost hunting. We don't need an extensive backstory for the new villain, a monstrous ghost named Cyrus who, we eventually learn, was a death cult leader and retains his following in the Further, promising them all life again in the living world. We don't need Elise to have an additional character be her avatar in the living world; no shade to Maisie Richardson-Sellers as full-time tattoo artist and part-time medium Clare, who performs very well, but whose role is written seemingly for the sole purpose of having more bodies to scare, injure, and kill in a scary movie. We could have simplified the story, used another generic but visually stimulating demon or entity -- heck, use Cyrus, but cut the dialogue and endless "research" they do on him, and trust the audience to work it out for ourselves! -- and gotten on with the drama and scares.

Because that's what an Insidious audience wants at this point. Family drama and scares. This franchise is to horror films what haunted houses are for Halloween. For those who seek out its unique pleasures, it's a staple in our diet. We want the brooding atmosphere, endless grim anticipation, cheap shocks with jolts of harsh light and sound, zany characters launching themselves from pervasive darkness, and a wandering sense of the netherworld coming too close to our own. Haunted houses aren't for everyone, and you can certainly enjoy Halloween without them, but they bleed into our consciousness even in the festive decoration aisle at your local hardware and grocery stores. Similarly, Insidious isn't for all horror fans, but franchises like this set the standard for those surface-level scares and wickedly fun spectacles of the genre, while proving the financial viability of the genre on an institutional (indeed, global) level. 

But director and writer Jacob Chase manages to handle some clever and novel set pieces effectively, so don't write off this film as a wholly skippable blip in the franchise. I squirmed right out of my seat in not one but two nasty scenes in a dental chair, and there's a nightmarish scene that takes place in a pillow fort -- and no, I will not be elaborating beyond extolling its Backrooms-flavored claustrophobia and its uncanny sound design. It's a spooky little ride that manages to be charming, nonsensical, thrilling, and mostly forgettable, so perfect for a movie night with friends or a date. And it's got some truly bizarre moments (the grapefruits, anyone?) sure to provoke entertaining conversation, if not quite stimulating.