Universal and Blumhouse have confirmed that they're bringing back the creative team behind the Insidious trilogy for a new installment titled Insidious: Chapter 4. While screenwriter Leigh Whannell took over for James Wan at the helm of the third installment, Chapter 4 brings aboard franchise newcomer Adam Robitel (The Taking of Deborah Logan) to direct. Whannell returns for the fourth installment as writer and presumably as his character Specs since the sequel also welcomes back the scene-stealing Lin Shaye as everybody's favorite parapsychologist, Elise Rainier, whose charms are so powerful she's become the leading force in the franchise despite dying in the first film.
Chapter 4 also welcomes back Insidious regulars Wan, Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity), and Blumhouse big gun Jason Blum as producers, with Steven Schneider (Paranormal Activity), Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Charles Layton serving as executive producers. Blumhouse announced the news today on their official website in a cute little video, which you can watch below. The film is set to arrive in theaters October 20th, 2017.
The Insidious movies have been a series of diminishing returns, so it's hard to get too excited about the news, but I do love the weird, off-kilter world of astral projection and the further built by Whannell and Wan. If the next chapter can tap back into that sense of fun and quirky creepiness instead of hinging on the sequel temptation to get darker, scarier, and more severe, they could possible right the Insidious ship. However, horror sequels are rarely excellent, and fourth installments even less so, so probably best to keep expectations in check no matter how lovely and entertaining Whannell and Shaye are.
They haven't announced any plot details yet, so we don't know if Chapter 4 will stay rooted in the past as Chapter 3 was or if it will pick up after the events of the Lambert family's deadly journey into the further. I'm hoping the later since the prequelization of Chapter 3 made it feel a bit like treading water and ghost Elise was a force to be reckoned with.
What do you guys think? Excited to head back into the further or is it time to let this franchise die? Sound off in the comments.
