By Haley Whitt ’15

Most of “Insidious 2” is unintentionally comical. It opens with a flashback scene of the father, Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson), being recorded and asked a series of questions about his nighttime dream travelling to the dark realm of the dead, “The Further.” The movie then draws on where the first “Insidious” left off. Josh’s son, Dalton, has just been rescued from “The Further” with the help of Elise, the woman who also helped get Dalton back, and Josh and his wife Renai are struggling with the death of Elise. However, the audience will remember from the first movie that Josh is actually Elise’s killer.

Confused? If you have not had the pleasure of watching the first “Insidious,” this movie will make no sense to you at all. However, even experienced “Insidious” watchers will be confused during some parts of the movie.

The clichéd supernatural events start up right away and include toys randomly turning on, along with the piano playing on its own. Then there is the unintentionally comical part of the movie where a ghost woman smacks Renai, knocking her out. Meanwhile, Dalton, who was rescued and safe, isn’t really safe, and is having more than sketchy conversations with some sort of entity in his grandma’s closet through the use of tin-can-telephones.

This may be one of the most pointless sequels in movie history. It was pretty much a collection of mediocre “popouts” of “scary” faces and high-pitched screams. In the beginning, it seemed as if the movie was going to be an actual sequel to the first one, but then it randomly drops all of these extra backstories on us. None of these little tidbits are pertinent to the main point of the movie.

Unfortunately, the acting hasn’t improved from the first film. Renai Lambert, played by Rose Byrne, lacks major skills in the acting department. It was painful to watch the same fake, “afraid” face in almost every scene. Wilson does better in playing a possessed man, and he succeeds at gradually becoming more intimidating and creepy.

This movie was disappointing because the audience was laughing more than screaming.