Insidious

In Poltergeist, what if you actually got to SEE what JoBeth Willams saw when she went into the netherworld to find Carol-Anne? That’s the elevator pitch of Insidious, the low-budget profit machine from the director of Saw and the Producers of Paranormal Activity. The typical floating objects and jump scares are effectively hair-raising, but expected. The twists that pile on at the end reminded me of the great SNL/Andy Samberg/Ellen Page short The Mirror. Overall, it’s a noble testament to bloodless, PG-13 spookiness and a nice homage to Tobe Hooper’s classic.