There have been so many modern horror gems that have gone on to become major franchises. The Conjuring, A Quiet Place and Smile are just a few that come to mind. However, when it comes to the haunted house sub-genre, there’s one series that’s visual style is like no other. That would be Insidious. Originally the demented love child of director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell, this small Blumhouse film quickly became one of the highest grossing horror franchises of all-time.
Grossing over $740 million across its five films, Insidious keeps bringing horror fans back to theaters. 2026 marks the 15th anniversary of the first film’s theatrical release back in April 2011. The sixth installment, Insidious: Out of the Further, will be part of that scream-worthy celebration when it releases in August. That next chapter just got a scary new poster and first teaser earlier this month at CinemaCon. With just a few months to go till we return to “The Further”, there’s no better time to rank the entire Insidious franchise from worst to best.
5 Insidious: The Last Key (2018)
The Last Key is often considered the worst film in the Insidious series. Not because it’s a bad film or incompetently made. It’s just forgettable. Focusing on Elise once again, this film brings our favorite paranormal investigator back to her childhood home to help a family in need. While The Last Key gives some emotional context to Elise with the backstory of her brother and her abusive father, the scares, demons and abstract gothic visuals are all things we’ve seen many times in this franchise.
Despite a great box office return, this is when the Insidious franchise started to get tired. That said, Lin Shaye’s Elise is always a treat to watch and her motherly dynamic with Specs (Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Sampson) never gets old. If you're an Insidious fan, this is still worth a watch for all the franchise references and connections. Last Key is simply the most throwaway Insidious entry.
4 Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015)
Chapter 3 marked Whannell’s directorial debut and the longtime Wan collaborator didn’t waste any time establishing his scary visual eye for jump scares. No one knows this world better than him since he wrote the first two films, but Chapter 3 is probably the most forgotten Insidious film. The Lambert story appeared to be done at this point and Elise died at the end of this first film. The only thing they could do was go backwards.
Chapter 3 was the first prequel of the series, focusing on a separate family who was front lined Stefanie Scott and Dermot Mulroney, while Elise's story focused on her becoming a part of Specs and Tucker’s paranormal group. The story was nothing new for Insidious, but this is one of the scariest films based on jump scares alone. Also, the introduction of “The Weezing Demon” is a memorable one. When paired with great performances from Shaye, Mulroney and Scott, Chapter 3 is a very good horror film. One that has a lot of heart and gives some meaningful context to the first two chapters.
3 Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)
Taking place directly after the events of the first film and its shocking twist ending, Chapter 2 was a much different horror story than the original. With "The Bride in Black" now possessing Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson), this sequel is more of a Shinning-type possession nightmare. That gave Wilson a lot to chew on, with one of his best performances of his career. He’s better known for his other Wan-directed haunted house franchise, The Conjuring. However, what Wilson brought to Josh here was something truly sad and heartbreaking.
It doesn’t flow as well as the first Insidious, with some pacing issues throughout, but it takes some huge swings in terms of its narrative. How it connects to the plot threads left dangling from the original is also mind-bendingly satisfying. We haven’t talked a lot in this ranking about this series’ ghostly dimension, The Further. That’s mainly because it’s a visually ghastly treat of a location that usually just serves the plot. That said, how the Further is used in Chapter 2 is particularly compelling. This set the groundwork for its use in the next batch of films. Lastly, when you add another great Shelley Duvall-like performance from Rose Byrne, this is a horror sequel that needs to be watched. Especially if you just watched the first one.
2 Insidious: The Red Door (2023)
This might be the biggest surprise on this list. However, despite its 39% on Rotten Tomatoes, The Red Door is a great emotional return to form for the franchise. Seeing the comeback of the Lambert family after a decade, Josh’s son Dalton is off to college. He starts seeing visions from The Further again which raise more questions about his past. They don’t remember what happened all those years ago because Josh and Dalton willingly forget the events of Chapter 1 and 2 in the ending of the latter. Yet, suppressed trauma brings on their own brand of demons. Both Josh and Dalton have to remember their dark past to defeat The Further once and for all. While, at the same time, coming closer together as father-son and repairing their relationship.
The Red Door does run into the issue of the main characters relearning what moviegoers have known for over a decade, but it's simply too good of a father-son story to get in the way. Wilson and Ty Simpkins gave incredibly raw performances. However, this is a multi-layered father-son story where Josh has to confront his relationship with his own father. That’s where most of the horror stems from, which inadvertently makes Elise’s story with her father in The Last Key stronger in hindsight. The Red Door is a thrilling closing chapter for the Lambert family. That’s especially true, since this was Wilson’s directorial debut.
1 Insidious (2011)
There’s no real surprise here. From the insane visuals to the ungodly music to the legendary jump scares, Insidious is an iconic horror film. It saved the haunted house sub-genre from absolute collapse. Wilson, Byrne and Shaye give all-time horror performances, while Wan’s direction and Whannell’s writing are a match made in genre heaven. It’s a one-of-a-kind experience despite the fact that The Further and Insidious’ style has been copied in so many horror projects over the last 15 years. Whether that be The Conjuring, Stranger Things or Imaginary, Insidious deadly claws are wrapped around the genre.
However, the main reason Insidious remains so relevant to our pop culture all these years later is because it’s an emotional family tragedy at its core. Through its immense scares, chilling lines of dialogue and surprisingly great bits of humor, Insidious has a massive beating heart. That set a high bar that all horror films must pass now. That’s also why most of the Insidious sequels are rotten in most people’s eyes. They’re chasing what the original mastered. Insidious simply sucks all the life out of you and when you get to the ending, where a possessed Josh strangles Elise to death, you’ll know what true fear is. The thought of losing the one you love, your family and your heart to a monster.
- Release Date
- April 1, 2011
Cast
-
Patrick WilsonJosh Lambert -
Rose ByrneRenai Lambert -
Lin ShayeElise Rainier -
Ty SimpkinsDalton Lambert
WHERE TO WATCH
- Runtime
- 102 minutes
- Director
- James Wan
- Writers
- Leigh Whannell
- Producers
- Jason Blum, Steven Schneider
- Sequel(s)
- Insidious: Chapter 2, Insidious: Chapter 3, Insidious: The Last Key, Insidious: The Red Door
- Franchise(s)
- Insidious
