Insidious: The Last Key - 2 Ups & 7 Downs

5. It Can't Escape The Prequel Problem

An issue that faces the vast majority of movie prequels is that they're inherently less suspenseful than their predecessors, because the audience knows that certain key characters must survive the events of the movie.

That was true in the previous Insidious film - which was also a prequel - and it's true again here. We know that nothing substantial can happen to Elise, Specs or Tucker, and considering that the film doesn't give the audience any other characters to care about either, it puts a major dent in viewer investment.

Again, this might be fine for the undemanding teen crowd who are happy with some jump scares and little else, but for anyone craving something remotely visceral or substantial, it's an undeniable problem.

It's a tough bind for the filmmakers because, of course, Elise's fate is sealed. Still, for the fifth film they really need to do a better job coming up with new characters for the audience to actually give a damn about.