Insidious: The Last Key is the fourth film in the Insidious horror franchise, directed by Adam Robitel and written by Leigh Whannell, who had previously directed part 3 as well as written parts 1-3. The film continues some time after Insidious Chapter 3 with paranormal medium Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) drawn into a demonic haunting at the site of her childhood home. Through flashbacks, Elise’s history with her supernatural gift is explored when she unwittingly releases a sinister force. Decades later, Elise returns with her paranormal investigator sidekicks (Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson) to attempt to banish the evil once and for all.
As with a majority of PG-13 horror films, The Last Key relies heavily on loud noises and sudden movement into and out of frame for cheap scares. Whereas earlier films in the franchise could arguably muster some kind of tension leading up to the jump scare, the only suspense here is in waiting for the next inevitable shadow to bound towards the camera. Each scene is a repeat of the last: Elise slowly walks forward in a dark room, a loud noise is heard off camera, the focus shifts in the direction of the noise to find nothing, then the camera pans quickly back in the original direction to show someone or something that was not previously there. It’s actually quite impressive how many times they can cram this same trope into a single film with little to no variation.
If there’s any amusement to be extracted from the film at all, it is without a doubt sourced from Lin Shaye’s earnest performance as Elise in what is now her fourth portrayal of the character. Despite being at the center of a very cheesy and uninspired series of films, she makes Elise come off as a very endearing and somewhat spunky grandmother character whose positive attitude is worthy of a better story. Her assistants Specs and Tucker serve little purpose other than to fail miserably at bringing comedic relief to scenes that require no levity and do nothing but weigh her story down.
Insidious: The Last Key was originally slated to release around Halloween in 2017, but was bumped to the cinema wasteland that is January. It’s quite clear that even the distributors have lost interest in this franchise, and for good reason.