'Insidious: Chapter 3' review: A horror movie that isn't scary

Rating: **

Genre: Horror

Cast: Lin Shaye, Dermot Mulroney, Stefanie Scott

Director: Leigh Whannell

Language: English

The problem with the third chapter of the Insidious franchise? It is just not scary. And last checked, that is exactly what 'horror flicks' do, right?

With Insidious: Chapter 3, the thrill slides several notches further down after a dismal Chapter 2. Who and what do you blame? A new storyline that barely connected to the previous two? Leigh Whannel in the director's chair after James Wan directed the first two or simply no creepy rendition of Tiny Tim's Tiptoe through the Tulips?

The movie is a prequel that tells the story of Quinn Brenner (Scott) who is having trouble coming to terms with her mother's death. She is eventually possessed by the resident ghost of the building she lives in with her father Sean (Mulroney) and brother. It also tells you how and why Elise Rainier (Shaye) makes a business out of her psychic gifts.

The best dialogues and sequences have probably been revealed in the trailer already. It all begins to turn comical when Elise again makes a trip to the darker side and literally engages in a fistfight with the ghosts. Horror enthusiasts beg for thrills that do not bank on the done and dusted jump scares, and the ones in Insidious: Chapter 3 do not even impress in the clichéd way. And a few too many good scary tales have been ruined by adding an emotional twang. This is no different.
Poor * Average ** Good *** Very Good **** Excellent *****