Overall, the critics were split on whether or not Insidious: Chapter 3 lived up to its potential. While some were scared senseless and others bored to tears, most thought that Lin Shaye’s performance was the highlight of the film. If you liked the first two Insidious flicks, you’ve probably already bought your ticket to see the finale. If you’re not a fan, this film won’t make you a believer.
“..[T]ruth be told, this finale to the Insidious trilogy is still delightfully entertaining, and a creepy, fun ending to the trilogy. This is especially true considering the fact that many third entries in franchises are downright awful…. The Insidious series is one that has issues, like any other horror franchise, but it’s also eerie, and disturbing, and always leaves a haunting little sense of dread for days after a viewing.”
The envelope remains resolutely unpushed, and the need to function as a multiplex scare-machine precludes the emotionality of The Babadook. Yet, with its slowburn reveals and leftfield jolts, it’s been more carefully constructed than most series’ third chapters.
The new Insidious, which is a prequel to those earlier films, doesn’t really offer much that’s new, but it starts off as a reasonably reliable series of slow-burn chills…. The result is a film that starts off as a solid, workmanlike exercise in horror, but it can’t quite keep that energy through to the end. This is so often the problem with this genre — scary setups, followed by dopey resolutions — that you sort of want to give the movie a pass. But given its distinguished forebears, Insidious: Chapter 3 doesn’t quite live up to expectations.
Christy Lemere of RogertEbert.com
Shaye, whose best-known roles prior to the Insidious franchise have been in the Farrelly brothers favorites There’s Something About Mary and Kingpin, gets a chance to show an unusual amount of range for a horror movie heroine, from sadness and vulnerability to strength and resiliency. She’s just as effective with a sympathetic look as she is with a well-timed quip. It’s a joy to see such a seasoned performer seize her place in the spotlight at last.
Around the one-hour mark, once Whannell finally has the whole ghost-hunting band back together again, Insidious: Chapter 3 gives off a few fleeting sparks of pleasure and conjures up a couple of memorably creepy images (including that of a half-formed woman with no face, hands, or feet). But what, finally, can one say about a movie in which the family being haunted seems more embalmed than the ghosts doing the haunting?
Now that the Critics had their say, what about you, HollywoodLifers? Are you going to see the third Insidious movie?
— Jason Brow