Insidious: Out Of The Further Brings Brisbane Back Into The Further

Sony Pictures Releasing brought Insidious: Out of the Further to Brisbane on Wednesday night, hosting a preview screening at Reading Cinemas Newmarket ahead of the film's wide theatrical release. The Urbanite was on hand for the screening — our first invite from Sony's Australian office — following the sixth instalment in a horror franchise that has now crossed $800 million at the global box office since 2010.

It's a fast, jump-scare-driven entry that rarely lets up, and it does a genuinely clever job of manufacturing claustrophobia — playing on the dark and small spaces in a way that gets under the skin rather than just startling you and moving on. The mother-daughter relationship at the film's centre carries real weight too, and the character work there pays off in a captivating plot twist. Where it stumbles is in the landing: for all the atmosphere built along the way, the ending is a fairly obvious one, the kind of twist you can see coming a reel or two out. It's a franchise entry more confident in its scares than its storytelling — but for horror fans who want their scares frequent and their dread physical, it delivers.

About the Film

Insidious: Out of the Further follows Gemma (Amelia Eve), a young mother raising her daughter in the house she grew up in, who discovers she can travel into The Further — the purgatorial realm of lost souls at the centre of the Insidious universe. Her ability doesn't stop at entering The Further: Gemma can bring what lives there back into the real world, and once its demons realise what she's capable of, our world becomes their playground.

Lin Shaye returns as fan-favourite Elise Rainier, alongside Brandon Perea. Jacob Chase (Come Play) directs from his own screenplay, based on a story by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Chase, drawing on characters originally created by Leigh Whannell. Jason Blum, Oren Peli, James Wan and Whannell produce.

The Screening

Doors opened at 6pm for a 6:30pm start, with the Newmarket audience greeted by a step-and-repeat backdrop and a packed house before the film began. Sony's review embargo lifted at 2am AEST on August 20th, clearing the way for coverage ahead of the film's national release.

Insidious: Out of the Further is exclusively in cinemas now.

Cast: Amelia Eve, Brandon Perea and Lin Shaye. Directed by Jacob Chase.