One of the benefits of being a solo film critic is the ability to choose what to watch and when to watch it, and something like Insidious: Out of the Further was not a film I was going to venture out to theaters to see. Even more so if I wasn’t blind. I used to be a little bit of a chicken when it came to jump scare movies, which is one of the reasons I haven’t seen the first three Insidious films. I tried watching the original without audio description at some point, but that was a rather pointless endeavor. I have seen Insidious: The Red Door, which I thought was unremarkable. However, when critics started coming out of Insidious: Out of the Further talking about how this was essentially a soft reboot of the franchise, with Patrick Wilson and his core family gone and Lin Shaye serving as the primary connective tissue, I became intrigued. Supposedly, this was an excellent starting point for someone unfamiliar with the franchise. Having only seen one other installment, I figured, why not test that theory? Let’s see if Insidious: Out of the Further really is self-contained enough to stand on its own.

Directed by Jacob Chase, the story revolves around Gemma (Amelia Eve), a dentist whose childhood was anything but ordinary. In the opening sequence, we see Gemma as a young girl, and in typical horror movie fashion, something wicked this way comes. Things do not work out particularly well for Gemma’s mother, and yet, somehow, Gemma apparently still lives in the same house all these years later. Which is utter insanity. Gemma now has a nine-year-old daughter, Maya (Island Austin), who is beginning to show signs that she’s ready to grow up. She’s willing to donate some of her toys, although she still has a particular fondness for pillow forts. It’s that strange transitional age where you’re ready to abandon the baby toys, but you’re not quite willing to surrender every last piece of your childhood. Interestingly, there’s no real mention or presence of a father figure or husband in Gemma’s life, nor was there one in the earlier sequence involving her mother. Not that I have anything against single mothers, but it feels like a convenient piece of family history that the screenplay has casually sidestepped. It’s also intriguing that this dynamic seems to repeat itself from generation to generation.

Gemma is at least attempting to pursue a new relationship with Nick (Brandon Perea), who is becoming increasingly interested in meeting Maya. He’s beginning to wonder whether Gemma’s reluctance to introduce him to her daughter means that she doesn’t take their relationship quite as seriously as he does. Little does he know that things are about to hit the fan, and his qualifications for the role of boyfriend are going to be tested in ways he couldn’t possibly imagine. Basically, whatever supernatural voodoo nonsense is emerging from the Further has managed to curse this family across three generations, from Gemma’s mother to Gemma herself and now to Maya. The boundaries between worlds and realities begin to blur, and Gemma increasingly finds herself in situations that would make any reasonable person question their sanity. The film also introduces these mysterious figures known as Conduits, who seem to be stalking Gemma while assisting whatever nefarious plans are unfolding within the Further.

Some of the more interesting developments involve the ways in which Gemma begins to understand and communicate with this other realm. She encounters Elise, played by returning franchise veteran Lin Shaye, within the Further and receives instructions on how to contact her. This eventually leads Gemma to a tattoo parlor and Clare (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), someone capable of facilitating that communication. It’s an interesting little twist on the mythology, and it also helps round out a new collection of characters, including Cyrus (Sam Spruell), who could potentially carry the franchise forward. Whether the filmmakers intend to continue following this family or simply keep sending the Further and its inhabitants after unsuspecting households remains to be seen. I’m not going to pretend that I became completely wrapped up in the mythology of Insidious, or that this was such a clean restart that I never felt like I was missing information. I’m sure my experience would have been richer had I watched every previous installment. However, there are some genuinely strong creative choices here, particularly when the film stops worrying about explaining its mythology and starts concentrating on finding inventive ways to terrify its audience.

There’s a pillow fort sequence that is inventive and creative, and then there’s a dental cleaning sequence that instantly became one of the most memorable things I’ve experienced in a movie in 2026. Not necessarily in a good way, because it gave me that deeply unpleasant gross-out feeling that only certain horror movies can achieve. If you’ve ever watched a horror movie and found yourself yelling at the lead character to run, hide, fight, or simply stop doing whatever stupid thing they’re doing, this was that scene for me. I was squirming, practically begging Gemma to hightail it out of there, but her dumbass just kept cleaning teeth that no reasonable human being would have touched. At a certain point, professional dedication needs to take a back seat to basic survival instincts. If you have a child who’s thinking about becoming a dentist, and you really don’t want them pursuing that career, show them this movie. Tell them this is what dentistry is actually like. That should put an end to those aspirations rather quickly.

There are several attempts at jump scares throughout the film, and some of them are actually effective without feeling overly cheap. The interesting thing about being blind is that I rarely get jump scared anymore, which is one of the reasons I’ve dramatically increased the number of horror movies I watch. Once I realized that a significant portion of the genre’s favorite tricks simply don’t work on me, I became much more comfortable exploring it. Have I been startled occasionally? Absolutely. But I can still recognize when a sequence has been constructed in a way that would likely be effective for a sighted audience, and there are several moments here that demonstrate some genuine stylistic creativity. My problem with contemporary horror is that too many directors seem to have lost confidence in their ability to frighten an audience through visual storytelling alone. Every jump scare has to be accompanied by an obnoxiously loud noise, as though the filmmaker is worried that whatever they’ve put on the screen won’t be enough. There’s a difference between being startled and being scared. A masterful horror director doesn’t even need jump scares. They can build an entire film around atmosphere, themes, mood, and an escalating sense of unease. If you’re genuinely skilled at building tension, you don’t need something popping out of the darkness every five minutes to remind the audience that they’re watching a horror movie.

I wasn’t particularly invested in this family, and I certainly had questions about their history that the screenplay never satisfactorily answered. The characters could have benefited from more development, and the generational curse feels like something that deserved a little more attention than it ultimately received. But judging Insidious: Out of the Further on its merits as a horror movie, I think there are some very effective moments, some really well-designed setups, and some deservedly creepy sequences. That’s important for a film operating within this genre. Is this one of the best movies of the year? Absolutely not. Much like Evil Dead Burn, which I reviewed recently, this is a film that succeeds more because of its ability to deliver the expected genre experience than because of the strength of its screenplay. Both films desperately need better scripts, but when it comes to delivering something for audiences who want to be scared, startled, grossed out, or some combination of all three, they technically manage to accomplish that.

I don’t look back particularly fondly on Insidious: The Red Door, but I suspect I’ll remember Insidious: Out of the Further for quite some time, if only because of that dentist chair sequence. Frankly, that scene alone should be enough to earn the film a fresh score for delivering one of the more memorable horror moments of the year. I’d heard quite a bit about the pillow fort sequence before watching the movie, and while that is certainly cool, nobody adequately prepared me for what was going to happen in that dental office. I have a dentist appointment coming up in February, and I actively contemplated canceling it while watching this. I don’t think we’re quite approaching Marathon Man territory, but this might be the most troubling experience involving a dentist’s chair since Marathon Man. That’s not exactly a small accomplishment when you consider how much horror cinema has attempted to exploit our collective fear of dental procedures over the years.

The audio description here is provided by Deluxe, with narration by Jedidiah Barton, who does a wonderful job bringing the film’s more unsettling moments to life. The descriptions are exceptionally well written, communicating the creepy environments, the supernatural elements within the Further, and the increasingly inhuman things that Gemma encounters. There’s a tremendous amount of visual information that needs to be conveyed for these sequences to work, and Barton does an excellent job of making sure that a blind audience isn’t left wondering what exactly is supposed to be frightening. More importantly, the audio description doesn’t sanitize the grotesque material. That dental sequence was particularly well described, which is both a compliment to the audio description team and something I may never forgive them for. There’s something to be said for an audio description track that can make a blind viewer physically squirm in their seat, and this one certainly managed to do that.

Insidious: Out of the Further may not be the best film in its franchise, and it may not even be the completely fresh starting point that some critics have suggested. It certainly could have used a stronger screenplay and more compelling characters. But a handful of effective, inventive, and occasionally downright disgusting moments make it worth going out of your way to get into the Further.

Fresh: 6.3/10