the film's second half is unable to live up to the impossibly high standards set by the first half." Ethan Gilsdorf of The Boston Globe wrote that "[t]he film begins with promise" but "[t]he crazy train of Insidious runs fully off the rails when the filmmakers go logical and some of the strange gets explained away as a double shot of demonic possession and astral projection." Positive reviews have focused on the filmmakers' ability to build suspense. John Anderson of The Wall Street Journal explains "[w]hat makes a movie scary isn't what jumps out of the closet. It's what might jump out of the closet. The blood, the gore and the noise of so many fright films miss the horrifying point: Movie watchers are far more convinced, instinctively, that what we don't know will most assuredly hurt us... Insidious establishes that these folks can make a film that operates on an entirely different level, sans gore, or obvious gimmicks. And make flesh crawl." Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell admire all sorts of fright, from the blatant to the insidiously subtle. This one lies at an effective halfway point between those extremes." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone commented: "Here's a better-than-average spook house movie, mostly because Insidious decides it can daunt an audience without spraying it with blood." Christy Lemire of the Associated Press stated: "Insidious is the kind of movie you could watch with your eyes closed and still feel engrossed by it." Awards and nominations Sequel and prequels Sequel A sequel, Insidious: Chapter 2, was released on Friday, September 13, 2013. Prequels A third installment, Insidious: Chapter 3, with Leigh Whannell serving as director and writer, was released on June 5, 2015, to a high box office gross and a mixed critical response. A fourth installment, with Adam Robitel as director and Whannell as writer of the film, Insidious: The Last Key was released on January 5, 2018, and received mixed reviews. See also List of ghost films References External links 2010 films 2010 horror films 2010 independent films 2010s ghost films 2010s psychological horror films 2010s supernatural horror films American haunted house films American independent films American psychological horror films American supernatural horror films British independent films British horror films British supernatural horror films Canadian horror films Canadian independent films Canadian supernatural horror films Demons in film English-language Canadian