Insidious (cert. 15) will be released on DVD (£15.99) and Blu-ray (£19.99) by Momentum Pictures on 12th September 2011.

Sometimes I think people forget that Horror movies are a broad church that takes in everything from goofy 80s teen comedy to the most gratuitously sadistic of modern grimy torture-porn. Hollywood likes to back winners so when a new genre grabs some headlines or an old genre makes a resurgence, the studios will rinse it out until the audience rebels by staying away from the cinema. Remember when every horror movie released by a mainstream studio was a post-modern ironic Slasher movie with a soundtrack full of faux-alienated Nu-Metal artistes? Thanks Scream. Or what about the era of the not-quite-as-good-but-hey-no-subtitles J-Horror remake? Or the current vogue for remaking former video nasties into slick torture machines designed as punter endurance tests?

It fine that there are a lot of sexually violent, nihilistic grindhouse horror flicks doing the rounds but when I see someone comment that Insidious might not be a horror movie, I really feel the need to point out the error of their ways. There was a time you see, back before there was CGI and relaxed censorship, when horror movies needed to rely on atmosphere, characters, sly humour and the creative power of the audience’ imagination. Films which scared the life out cinema crowds could also raise a chuckle or have characters you could identify with, laugh along with or fear for. Some horror movies aren’t about body counts and those that are rarely waste time on nuance. Classics like Poltergeist or The Exorcist might seem tame for a younger audience used to watching obnoxious sex tourists being dismembered in Hostel but it’s the rollercoaster ride between fear and entertainment that make them work alongside memorable roles for the actors to really get their teeth into. If old fashioned spooky horror in a rollercoaster, then sadistic torture films are like being stuck on the Waltzers while the attendant goes to find some lunch.

Insidious doesn’t deal in long, drawn out gut spilling or grim, one-dimensional shock value at the expense of thrills and chills. For those who think a horror film should be judged on how many victims a director can sew into a Human Centipede or how much you feel like taking a shower afterward viewing, I suggest taking a look at Insidious, a film that brings the traditions of Poltergeist, Audrey Rose, The Changling and The Entity in the modern movie era and strikes a small blow for creeps and creaks in the mulitplex instead of a constant diet of anguish and abuse. SAM@CULTLABS

