I decided to watch the “Insidious” franchise in chronological, not theatrical release order starting with “Insidious: Chapter 3” (2015) to prepare for “Insidious: Out of the Further” (2026), so “Insidious: The Last Key” (2018) is second on the list. Set in 2010, Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) and her two sidekicks, Tucker (Angus Sampson, sporting the same attitude as he did in “Deep Water” except a good guy) and Specs (Leigh Whannell), which she dresses like Mormon missionaries, decide to bust some ghosts where everything started: at Elise’s childhood home in Five Keys, New Mexico. Will Elise be able to stop the entity that hurt her and her family? Even if you loved “Insidious: Chapter 3” and the characters introduced in it, it will take nothing but the grim determination of a completist to watch this one and not feel as if it is a complete waste of talent and resources. Director Adam Robitel suffered from a sophomore slump with this tenebrous verging on unwatchable entry in the franchise. Writer Whannell had a story that was less scary than rote in stringing together a collection of horror tropes in hopes that some themes would coalesce from the goulash. No such luck.
“Insidious: The Last Key” starts in 1953 on a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad night for child Elise (Ava Kolker) and her little brother Christian (Pierce Pope). She meets (presumably) a demon, Keyface (Javier Botet), who lives in the basement of her unhappy, above ground home, which includes her abusive, prison guard dad, Gerald (Josh Stewart, who must love paying his bills, but likely yearns for lighter fare), and understanding mom, Audrey (Tessa Ferrer). Keyface believes Elise can open the red door and many more, which is probably not a good thing, and when she does, bad things tend to happen in the house even over a half century later. The latest resident, Ted Garza (the Kirk Acevedo in a thankless role), calls present day Elise for help. It is apparently the law for Elise to refuse help then give it. Ignoring her instructions to hold the fort, the guys tag along with her after very little arm twisting to convince Elise to change her mind.
It turns out the trio live in her house, and Warren (Owen the Golden Retriever) is still in his doggie bed without ever interacting with the guys, which feels like a red flag. A lot of “Insidious: The Last Key” feels like filler and slightly remixing what worked in “Insidious: Chapter 3” in the hopes that it will work again, but like any drug, it is less potent with each dose: dead loving mom, women held in spiritual captivity, having to rescue one soul or the body will die, a predatory demon, a bad dad, blonde little brother, etc. The worst part of the story is the part that seems included for purely self-indulgent comedic relief, but it has the opposite effect. When Elise meets her nieces, Melissa (Spencer Locke) and Imogen (Kit Goldsmith), for the first time, her sidekicks get pervy, and not one of the women react with revulsion, just amusement. Whannell is getting into Quentin Tarantino writing in his foot fetish territory here, and it is not a good look. Elise would have fired them in an instant. It will surprise no one just based on hair, makeup and wardrobe which niece inherited the Shining.
It feels as if “Insidious: Chapter 3” and “Insidious: The Last Key” exists for Elise to wrestle with past trauma so she can be even more of a bad ass in the future, but this Elise is not as impressive as the one depicted in “Insidious: Chapter 3.” Did Steve Coulter need to come back to deliver a pep talk? The only one pushing anyone around is Keyface. Elise gets reunited with her brother (Bruce Davison) for the first since they were kids. If filmmakers could go to jail for underutilizing a great actor and wasting potential, Whannell and Robitel would be put away for life for how few times Shaye and Davison actually interact. Davison is an old school, legendary hater of powers from the “X-Men” franchise, but they leave him at tepid temps in the face of psychic powers. He maybe gets five lines. What are we doing here?!? Davison’s hair looks great though. Jealous! It is white and thick. People would kill for a head of hair like that when they start going grey.
The worst part of “Insidious: The Last Key” is that it suffers in translation from the big screen to the silver one. All the scenes in dark rooms, and there are many of them, are almost impossible to see. Movies and television series with experienced creators and financial resources are often plagued with being indiscernible and turning into a glorified radio drama if the filmmakers do not actively think about how their movie will look once it leaves theaters. (You will have to watch this one at night with nothing reflecting on the screen so no lights behind you to see better, but it is still not much of an improvement.) On one hand, so many people make this mistake, it should not be a determinative factor in judging their work. On the other hand, this kind of movie does not have sufficient positive elements to keep it afloat if you cannot see what is going on so it does not leave many other options to judge favorably. It is not the dialogue (“most beautiful girl in the world”), the character development, the character interaction, the emotional journey, etc. Apparently if you can see, there are tidbits that tie into the other installments, including the Lipstick Demon. I’ll take your word for it, internet! I’m not rewinding or watching this mess again. Once was enough. It is never scary. Ever! EVAH! Even the stab at found footage falls flat.
The horror metaphor in “Insidious: Chapter 3” worked because it exaggerated the theme of parentification, but there is no room to escalate if the theme is physical and psychological abuse along with keeping children and women in basements. This mythology of ghosts, demons and souls honestly felt like an afterthought. Even though it is apples and oranges, since the “Insidious” franchise and “The Conjuring” franchise are like the cheap, fast food of horror, “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” (2021) was a far better supernatural meets police procedural than “Insidious: The Last Key,” which ends up failing both genres. It is all over the map: serial killers, kidnappers, death sentence, etc. Imagine stuffing a movie with so many ordinarily terrifying elements then making them boring.
There is a great scene when Elise starts the day full of vim and vigor, undresses then returns to bed. Elise’s mistake is not staying there. Don’t make Elise’s mistake and investigate further. If “Insidious: The Last Key” is an attempt to extend the franchise so one of the nieces’ inherits Elise’s mantle, do not bother. It is such a waste of time, talent and resources. If it commits a cardinal sin, it is using the excuse of the demon made me do it to redeem the guilty in the most blink and miss it way possible. You will be relieved to know that Whannell wrote and Robitel directed better movies before (“The Taking of Deborah Logan”) and after (“Escape Room”) this one. Everyone has a bad day.
