Insidious Review by Samantha Mauney

The makers of Saw are returning to their low-budget roots with this supernatural horror flick that centers around a young couple trying to keep their family together after tragedy strikes.

At the start of the film, the Lambert family, composed of husband and wife Josh and Renai, two boys and a baby girl, has just moved into a new house. Soon thereafter, they begin to settle into their daily routines. One day, having realized that she has lost some sheet music, Renai journeys into the attic. Using a ladder to turn on the light, she breaks one of the wooden steps, and leaves without finding what she's looking for. Later, their son Dalton is exploring the attic and falls on the same ladder hitting his head on the floor. His parents, having evaluated him, think that everything is fine until the next morning when he is unresponsive. Doctors are baffled as Dalton remains in the same comatose state for three months.

Shortly after moving him home, strange events begin to occur around the house. Family members are besieged by visions of people and other things that go "bump" in the night. Tensions mount throughout, leading to a climax 

Overall, the film is a little too predictable for my taste, which is due in large part to the overbearing score that doesn't build suspense so much as it provides a warning of when the next big scare is coming. The music also does a great job of killing any subtlety that the filmmakers might have been trying to inject into the movie regarding certain Easter egg-type features.

This film takes the traditionally harmless, however supernatural, concept of the out-of-body experience and makes it, well, insidious. Whether or not this twist is a hit or miss is debatable. In general, if you're looking for a horror flick with a great story, then Insidious might not be for you. However, if you enjoy new twists and ideas inserted into conventional concepts, it's definitely worth a watch. I give it about 7 out of 10 stars.