I never saw the first Insidious feature film, but I am aware of it's reputation as a scary paranormal horror picture. It's sequel carries on the scares as the Lambert family seeks to uncover the truth behind the deep seeded childhood secret that keeps them dangerously connected to the spirit world while fighting off demons that relentlessly follow them.
Is it me or does that sound like the plot to the Poltergiest films of the 1980s? I am surprised no one has tried to reimagine that one given the increased interest in the occult as clearly evident on the big, the small, and mobile interactive screens of social media. Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, and Barbara Hershey reprise their roles from the first film, which also has director James Wan return as well. Wan also directed The Conjuring and is well suited to the genre.
The DVD edition features a standard definition anamorphic (2.39:1) widescreen presentation and the picture quality when upconverted to 1080p looks very good though I prefer true high definition over upconversion. A clear and discrete when it needs to be English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is included as well as a Spanish Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack and English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired along with English and Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded as options too.
Unfortunately the DVD is light on special features with the actual packaging literally stating "Get the Blu-ray for more Special Features." At this point I have to ask why bother making the DVD at all if you are going to basically tell the consumer they should buy the Blu-ray anyway. Between multimedia combo packs and early direct to digital sales if you are not going to support one format as much as you would the other than save the cost and just release the film on Blu-ray and DVD combo pack with a digital copy and provide standard and high definition rental and sales options for the digital copy. I mean on one hand I applaud the honesty, but on the other I am left scratching my head.
A behind-the-scenes featurette as well as a look at how the actors were transformed into ghosts are included on the DVD and there is a limited time redemption insert within the DVD keep case for a standard definition Ultraviolet Digital Copy as well.
Insidious: Chapter 2 will debut on DVD as well as a more feature packed Blu-ray and DVD combo pack version, but of course sold seperately at retailers on and offline on December 24, 2013 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment just in time for Christmas!
(C) Copyright 2013 By Mark Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
