Insidious: The Red Door Blu Ray Review (Sony Pictures/Blumhouse)

Insidious: The Red Door (aKa Insidious Chapter 5 and Insidious 5) is a 2023 supernatural horror film directed by actor Patrick Wilson (Insidious franchise, The Conjuring universe, Aquaman franchise, Midway, and The Commuter) in his directorial debut. It was written by Scott Teems (Halloween Kills, Firestarter, The Exorcist: Believer, and The Quarry). It was produced by filmmaker James Wan (Saw franchise, Insidious franchise, The Conjuring universe, Aquaman franchise, Swamp Thing, M3gan, Malignant, and Mortal Kombat), Jason Blum (Five Nights at Freddy’s, The Exorcist: Believer, Halloween franchise, The Craft: Legacy, Freaky, The Hunt, The Invisible Man, Glass, US, The Purge franchise, and Upgrade), and Leigh Whannell (Saw franchise, Insidious franchise, The Invisible Man, Upgrade, The Mule, and Cooties). It is a direct sequel to Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013), and the fifth installment in the Insidious franchise. The budget was $16 million and it grossed $189 million worldwide at the box office!!!!In 2019, nine years after his possession, Josh Lambert’s (played by: Patrick Wilson from Hard Candy, Fargo, Bone Tomahawk, The A-Team, and Watchmen) memories of his experience in The Further have been repressed. He is divorced from his wife Renai (played by: Rose Byrne from the Insidious franchise, Neighbors franchise, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Irresistible, 28 Weeks Later, Damages, and the X-Men franchise) and his mother Lorraine has recently died. His relationship with his son Dalton (played by: Ty Simpkins from the Insidious franchise, The Whale, Iron Man 3, Avengers: Endgame, and Jurassic World) has become strained, and he attempts to heal things between them while dropping him off at college but it ends with them in an argument. In his first art class, Dalton ends up drawing a picture of the red door used to enter The Further. Meanwhile, Josh begins being haunted by the spirit of a man, eventually discovering that it is his father Ben Burton who he believed abandoned his family when he was young. Dalton attends a frat party with his roommate Chris, (played by: Sinclair Daniel from Cannabitches, Bull, and The Other Black Girl) where he sees the ghost of a student that is constantly vomiting. After accidentally going into The Further again, Chris shows Dalton a YouTube video by Specs (played by: Leigh Whannell from Saw, The Bye Bye Man, Crush, Death Sentence, and The Matrix: Reloaded) and Tucker (played by: Angus Sampson from Bump, The Lincoln Lawyer, The Stand, Mortal Kombat, Insidious franchise, Fargo, and Mad Max: Fury Road), explaining how astral projection works, which leads to a clip of Elise Rainier (played by: Lin Shaye from the Insidious franchise, There’s Something About Mary, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Grudge, and Detroit Rock City) talking about The Further. Dalton continues to explore this dark ability with the help of Chris. His brother Foster (played by: Andrew Astor from the Insidious franchise and The Hangover) tells him of a crazy vision that he had of their father losing his mind and terrorizing their family. As Dalton digs deeper, he starts to lose control of reality. His family is now facing some familiar problems which he must fix before it’s too late. Can he save them all????Insidious: The Red Door tries to be different and separate itself from the rest of the horror series. The older Lamberts take a backseat in this sequel and they basically only have small roles here. Ty Simpkins takes over as the lead in The Red Door. He leaves home to college in this one and he learns he has powers that he never knew were this strong. Ty is solid here but I do prefer Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne being the main characters in this horror franchise. The script took this horror feature to a different atmosphere. It’s a younger and more modern approach to Insidious. It takes a minute to get somewhere but it does have familiar territory when it comes to these movies especially towards the finale. Lots of the cast from the past returned for this follow up. The solid supporting cast includes Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Sinclair Daniel, Lin Shaye, and Andrew Astor. The Red Door has some pacing issues and it doesn’t flow as well as the others but I still enjoyed it. This is definitely the weakest entry but if you are a fan of the others then you will most likely dig it. Honestly, the finale besides a few creepy moments every once in awhile were the best things about this production. Patrick Wilson did a good job at directing but this sequel tried to hard to be something else.Let’s discuss this high definition presentation from Sony Pictures and Blumhouse! This 1080p (2.39:1) transfer looked really good in HD. The Red Door has quality production design, fx, and cinematography that helps out the visuals. It has a few different audio options which includes English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French (Canada): DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, and Spanish: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 on the disc. It has English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles. “The Family: Past, Present, Further” is 4 minutes. It has interviews with Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, and Ty Simpkins. It’s a quick rundown of The Red Door with them. “A Possessed Director” is 5 minutes. It’s an inside look into actor Patrick Wilson making his directorial debut here. It has some Sony Pictures “Trailers”. It comes with a slipcover and a digital code. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!