October Horror Challenge 2023 #82: "Insidious: Chapter 2"

This is one of those movies that I've been wanting to see for years now. It came out in 2013 and I've been meaning to see it for 10 years now. My friend Ed gave me all 4 of the Insidious Movies as a gift for my birthday a few years ago, and I've been holding onto them ever since. I finally got around to watching them today, so I'm having an "Insidious" marathon, bingeing all 5 of the movies (that's right, I waited so long to watch this movie that there's 4 sequels now! That's what happens when you procrastinate, I guess. I'm excited to watch this movie and finally find out what happens next in the story.

This movie picks up right where the first one leaves off. First we go back into the past to see what happened when Josh Lambert was a young boy, how his family first discovered that he has a gift to talk with ghosts, and what his family decided to do about it, which caused a lot of problems for them in the future, then we jump back to the present day and see what happens right after the first movie ends. The ghosts are pissed that Josh and Annie Lambert tried to get rid of them in the first movie, so they're back with a vengeance in this movie. Josh's mother, played by Barbara Hershey, knows that something weird is going on with her son, so she seeks the help of the Paranormal Activity experts from the first movie, trying desperately to save her family from supernatural forces. Will she succeed or will she lose her family forever?

Josh is a real jerk in this movie. I wanted to punch him in the face for most of the running time. I know it's the ghosts' fault, but he's still an asshole. He treats his wife like crap. If I were Annie I'd want a divorce. Lucky for him, she's not me and she's willing to work to save him. She's not some little weak submissive woman like Wendy from the film version of The Shining either, she really throws a wrench in his plans (haha, I crack myself up). This movie is that rare unicorn, a sequel that's as good as if not better than the original. I dug it. I think you'll dig it too. You should check it out.