HBO Is Streaming A Creepy Dermot Mulroney Horror Movie That Deserves More Fans

James Wan possesses the magic touch when it comes to his horror movies becoming long-running franchises. "Saw" and "The Conjuring" grew into genre mainstays from the kernel of a singular great idea. The same can be said of the "Insidious" movies: Wan's original 2010 chiller is a clever twist on the haunted house film. The first entry in the franchise follows the Lambert family being terrorized by a series of supernatural forces vying for control of their eldest kid, Dalton (Ty Simpkins). It's revealed that the source of their troubles is an eerie purgatorial realm housing a collective of disturbed souls called the Further. With "Insidious: Chapter 2" initially closing the door on the Lamberts' story, it was unclear which direction the series was going to go in next. The result was 2015's "Insidious: Chapter 3," a creepy prequel that showed what medium Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) was up to prior to the events of the first film.

Now streaming on HBO Max, "Insidious: Chapter 3" follows teenager Quinn Brenner (Stefanie Scott) as she seeks out a reclusive Elise in the hopes that she'll be able to help her communicate with her recently deceased mother. In the aftermath of their conversation, a malevolent spirit within her apartment building starts to slowly torment the aspiring actress. With Quinn incapacitated as a result of a car accident, the entity known as The Man Who Can't Breathe (Michael Reid MacKay) works tirelessly to possess her. Her father, Sean (Dermot Mulroney), ultimately convinces Elise that Quinn's soul is worth fighting for, leading to a showdown that pushes the medium to face her internal struggles. Between "Insidious: Chapter 3" and "Scream VI," Mulroney has cornered the market of horror movies in which his redheaded daughter named Quinn is possessed by a ghost of sorts.

No entry in this series quite matches the pure dread of the original, but "Insidious: Chapter 3" comes closest due to Leigh Whannell being behind the camera. It marks a somewhat flawed but ultimately very creepy directorial debut for the Australian, who also wrote the screenplay for the film and reprises the role of Elise's assistant Specs from the first two installments. Every would-be director has to start somewhere, so it makes sense that Whannell would kick off his filmmaking career with a series that he shaped himself: He also wrote the original film, "Insidious: Chapter 2," and "Insidious: The Last Key."

Whannell knows the ins and outs of the Further as well as anyone, and, with "Insidious: Chapter 3," he proved that he understands how to give horror movie audiences a good jolt. This is best exemplified in the sequence where Quinn shares a nice moment with her next door neighbor crush by knocking on the wall. It's a sweet scene that takes a sinister turn when she realizes that she's been inadvertently communicating with her raspy tormentor. The silence that follows Quinn's next knock is an appropriately creepy demonstration of how well Whannell wields tension.

There are things that happen in every "Insidious" movie, and this prequel is no exception, though the third entry is told through the empathetic lens of a much more broken family. The Brenners seem lost without their matriarch, and the series of disturbances against Quinn makes putting their lives back together again that much more difficult. Quinn really gets put through the wringer with every new encounter with The Man Who Can't Breathe, who has been lauded as the scariest villain in the franchise to date.

While the actors making up the Brenner family do an admirable job of selling their turmoil, "Insidious: Chapter 3" ultimately belongs to the great Lin Shaye. Whenever you have a movie about normal people having brutal encounters with the paranormal, you want a figure who feels like they can take charge of the situation, and Shaye is undoubtedly that person. She steals the first "Insidious" right out from under Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne with such confidence. Elise's shocking death in that film is necessary to stick the narrative landing, but it's akin to John Kramer being killed off in "Saw III" — the sequels don't work quite as well without them.

Resurrecting Elise with a prequel that mines new emotional depths to her character, in addition to propping Shaye up as a true horror star, was definitely the right move for the franchise. It's only a shame that the worst aspects of "Insidious: Chapter 3" involve her explicit ties to the original movie. We not only learn that Elise is given some sense of prior awareness that the Bride in Black (Tom Fitzpatrick) will come for her, but also how she put her spirit hunting team together with Specs and Tucker (Angus Sampson).

That being said, Shaye sells a lot of her groan-worthy origin fixtures within the strangely convoluted "Insidious" timeline as best as anyone possibly could by way of her being a charming presence. She's on top form here, and "Insidious: Chapter 3" is definitely worth checking out for Shaye's performance. In its review of the film, The New York Times praised Whannell for bringing Shaye back, calling her the franchise's "secret weapon" as well as "a seasoned performer of range, moxie and limitless charm."