The document provides a detailed summary of the plot and production of the 2010 supernatural horror film "Insidious". It describes the story of a family whose son inexplicably falls into a coma and is revealed to have become trapped in a realm called "The Further" inhabited by spirits. His father must enter this realm to rescue his son from a demon. The document also discusses the film's production process, musical score, marketing, box office performance, and award nominations.
2. Insidious is a 2010 American
supernatural horror film directed by
James Wan, written by Leigh
Whannell, and starring Patrick Wilson,
Rose Byrne and Barbara Hershey. It is
the first installment in the Insidious
film series. The story centers on a
couple whose son inexplicably enters a
comatose state and becomes a vessel
for ghosts in an astral dimension who
want to inhabit his body, in order to
once again live. The film was released
in theaters on April 1, 2011, and was
FilmDistrict's first theatrical release.
3. plot
The Lambert family–parents Renai (Rose Byrne) and Josh (Patrick Wilson), their sons Dalton (Ty Simpkins) and Foster
(Andrew Astor), and infant daughter Cali–move into a new home. Shortly afterward, Dalton is drawn to the attic
when he hears creaking noises and sees the door open by itself. He falls from a ladder while investigating and sees a
figure in the shadows. Hearing his terrified screams, Renai and Josh rush to his aid and declare the attic "off limits"
to the children. The next day, Dalton falls into an inexplicable coma.
After three months of treatment without result, Renai and Josh are allowed to take Dalton home. Instantly,
increasingly supernatural activity occurs (Renai begins hearing sinister voices over the baby monitor when no one is
in Cali's room, Foster complains that Dalton is sleepwalking at night, Renai sees the frightening figure of a man in
Cali's room, who vanishes when Josh comes, the burglar alarm is repeatedly triggered when nothing is out of the
ordinary). After Renai finds a bloody handprint on Dalton's bed, she questions Josh about the house, but he ignores
her. That night, the figure from Cali's room appears outside the bedroom window and attacks Renai through the
wall. The Lamberts abandon the house and move elsewhere.
In the second house, Renai sees the figure of a dancing boy who leads her to Dalton's room. Josh's mother, Lorraine
(Barbara Hershey), has a dream in which a demonic figure in Dalton's room demands Dalton; at the same time, a
monstrous red-faced figure appears behind Josh and roars, while Dalton is attacked in his room.
4. Lorraine calls paranormal investigators Elise Reiner (Lin Shaye), Specs (Leigh Whannell), and Tucker (Angus Sampson).
Upon entering, Elise senses a disembodied presence in the house and once entering Dalton's room, she sees
something on the ceiling, to which Specs draws a demonic, red-faced figure with dark hollow eyes; the same figure
Lorraine saw.
Elise explains that Dalton is not in a coma; he was born with the ability to travel mentally to the astral plane. He has
traveled too far and become lost in a realm called "The Further", a place inhabited by the tortured souls of the dead.
Without his mental presence, Dalton's body appears comatose and spirits can use it to enter the physical world. Josh
is skeptical until he realizes that all of Dalton's drawings are of the demonic entity drawn by Specs.
Elise performs a seance to communicate with Dalton, but the demon appears and foully threatens the group. It uses
Dalton's body to attack them but is stopped by Elise. She reveals that her acquaintance with Lorraine is decades old,
because she previously performed the same service on Josh when he was eight years old (he was terrorized by the
parasitic spirit of an old woman). Josh also possesses astral talent; Dalton inherited it from him. Elise tells Josh that
the only way to rescue Dalton is to go into the Further himself.
Elise puts Josh in a trance. He is able to project himself to their previous house. He goes to the attic, and finds a red
door, but is attacked by the mysterious figure that attacked Renai. After defeating him, Josh enters the Demon's Lair,
where Josh finds Dalton chained to the floor. Josh frees him, but they are caught by the demon; Josh tries to fight it,
but they are forced to flee with the demon in pursuit. Returning through the red door, Josh confronts the old woman
that haunted him as a child. The old woman dissolves into darkness after Josh shouts at it to leave it alone. Josh and
Dalton wake up in their new home, the spirits disappearing.
5. As they celebrate the end of their ordeal,
Elise senses something and takes a photo
of Josh. Josh flies into a violent rage, as he
doesn't like to have his picture taken,
strangles Elise and flees. Renai picks up
the camera, and screams. The image of
Josh resembles a sinister old woman,
implying that Josh was possessed. Josh
appears over her shoulder, says "I'm right
here.", and she is frozen in terror.
The old woman blows out a candle,
plunging the room into darkness.
6. Production Filming
Principal photography for Insidious was completed over the course of three weeks in 2010, from late April to mid-May
at the historic Herald Examiner Building in downtown Los Angeles. In regards to the shorter shooting schedule, actor
Patrick Wilson explained, "We had long days and a lot of pages a day, and we didn’t get a lot of coverage or rehearsal.
But luckily, the benefit of doing a movie that’s not on a big budget—and the reason it’s usually done like that—is so if
the filmmakers feel like, ‘OK, we’re not going to sacrifice anything on screen,’ which I don’t think they have, it lets them
have complete control. So we were in good hands."
Music
The musical score to Insidious was composed by Joseph Bishara, who also appears in the film as the demon. Performed
with a quartet and a piano, a bulk of the score was improvised and structured in the editing process, although some
recording sessions began prior to filming. On describing the approach of the film's soundtrack, director James Wan
explained, "We wanted a lot of the scare sequences to play really silent. But, what I like to do with the soundtrack is set
you on edge with a really loud, sort of like, atonal scratchy violin score, mixing with some really weird piano bangs and
take that away and all of a sudden, you’re like, 'What just happened there?'"
An exclusively digital soundtrack album was released by Void Recordings on October 11, 2011. Additional songs
featured in the film include:
"Tiptoe Through the Tulips" by Tiny Tim (1968)"Nuvole Bianche" by Ludovico Einaudi (2004)
"Black Angels" by George Crumb (1971)
7. distribution Marketing
The first promotional clip from Insidious was released on September 14, 2010. The following December, production
company IM Global released an image and sales poster for the film.[11] On January 22, 2011, FilmDistrict released
the first teaser trailer for the film. Less than a month later, the film's theatrical trailer was made available online via
daily entertainment news site Blastr.
Theatrical release
Insidious had its world premiere in the Midnight Madness program at the Toronto International Film Festival on
September 14, 2010. Less than 12 hours after its screening, the film was picked up by Sony Pictures Worldwide
Acquisitions for theatrical distribution. On December 29, 2010, it was announced that the film would be released
theatrically on April 1, 2011 by the then-relatively new film company FilmDistrict.[16] The film was also screened at
South by Southwest in mid-March 2011.
Home media
Insidious was released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 12, 2011 through Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.The Blu-ray
bonus content includes three featurettes: Horror 101: The Exclusive Seminar, On Set With Insidious, and
Insidious Entities. On the day prior to the film's home media release, Sony Pictures and Fangoria hosted a free
screening of the film at the Silent Movie Theater in Los Angeles followed by an interactive Q&A with director James
Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell.
8. Box office
The film opened with $13,271,464, making it #3 at the domestic box office behind
Hop and Source Code. It has since grossed a total of US$54,009,150 domestically
and US$43,000,000 internationally, for a total of $97,009,150
worldwide.Insidious was the most profitable film of 2011
Year Result Award Category Recipient
2011 Won Fright Meter Awards Best Horror Film James Wan, Leigh Whannell
2011 Nominated Fright Meter Awards Best Director James Wan
2011 Nominated Fright Meter Awards Best Actress Rose Byrne
2011 Won Fright Meter Awards Best Supporting Actress Lin Shaye
2011 Nominated Fright Meter Awards Best Screenplay Leigh Whannell
2011 Nominated 2011 Scream Awards Best Horror Film −
2011 Nominated 2011 Scream Awards Best Horror Actor Patrick Wilson
2011 Nominated 2011 Scream Awards Best Horror Actress Rose Byrne
