mrosesteed

Insidious begins as a scary, atmospheric story of isolation, paranoia, and potential insanity and ends as an over the top monster fight. By switching progagonists halfway through from frightened mom, Renai, to traumatized dad, Josh, the film loses its focus, spiraling out of control into a convoluted mishmash of clunky exposition, eerie supernatural tableaus, campy villains, and bizarre ghost hunting tecnhiques. While many conceptual and visual elements of the film remain creepy, its generic shock based soundscape and choatic final act undermine the tension of the first part of the film.

Based on the allegedly true experiences of real life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, The Conjuring features converging storylines, which combine the typical tropes and aesthetic of haunting films with documentary style depictions of the Warrens' investigation. From the film and audio technology featured in the investigation sequences to the warm color grading of the movie as a whole, which evokes the color film stock of the early post-Tenchicolor era, the film's artistry evokes its 1970s setting, separating it visually from other, more desaturated horror movies of the 2010s. However, the often overwrought, bassy, atmospheric soundscape of its era does prevail.

A slow building adaptation of Konami's 1999 survival horror video game, Silent Hill pairs the game's siganture fog, monsters, flashlights, and supernatural mystery elements with a story heavily adapted for the cinema. Although the film stumbles over plot holes and timeline discrepancies, its eerie atmosphere is bolstered by practial monster effects, thorough set design, and a surreal score by Akira Yamaoka, whose music from the first two games is wisely employed heavily throughout the film. At the movie's gruesome climax, original music by Jeff Danna evokes religious and Spaghetti Western sensibilities and enhances the visually and conceptually disturbing collision of supernatural and human horror.