Insidious 3 (3½ Stars)

The name of this film is deceptive. It's called "Insidious 3" or "Insidious Chapter 3", but it's not really the third part in the series of Insidious films. It's a prequel that takes place three years before the first film. The usual naming convention for prequels would make this "Insidious 0", or "Insidious: The Beginning". I don't know why the film studious deviated from this. Did they want to deceive the public, or did they just not know any better?

I only found out today that "insidious" is a real word. It means "proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with harmful effects". That's a good word to add to my vocabulary. I wonder if I can use it in a sentence in a crowded room without people thinking I'm talking about the film. But the word certainly sums up the film. It progresses slowly, and all the time the events become scarier and deadlier.

The central character is a teenage girl called Quinn Brenner. After an unsuccessful audition at a New York theatre she's hit by a car and can no longer walk. Back at home she realises that the house she lives in is haunted, and there's no way she can escape. Mediums are brought in to exorcise the ghosts, some skilled, some unskilled.

It's a good scary film, but at the end of the day it's unmemorable. It's too generic, offering nothing new to the haunted house genre. If you ask me about it 12 months from now I shall probably have forgotten what happened.