All The 'Insidious' Films (Including 'Out Of The Further') Ranked From Worst To Best 

The Insidious films are part of a franchise that delve into the “haunted house” concept, but in a different manner. I remember what a phenomenon the first film was when it came out, especially being compared to The Conjuring. Here’s where I think a lot of people get it wrong. The Insidious films have jump scares, yes, and they definitely don’t fall under the intellectual “elevated” horror genre, instead they rely on a concept that is meant to be more atmospherically terrifying as an idea. I think this is why people start to judge it pretty early on. In my opinion, it’s one of the best horror franchises out there, though only when counting the Lambert family. That’s where the issue really begins. When the films decided to expand into a story that was more generic than family focused, it failed to impress every time. I love Elise, but even with her background story, what an audience expects is something scary, but instead we got a bunch of slop. But how well does the latest film fare? Is it worth keeping the franchise going? Let’s find out. 

6. Insidious: Chapter 3

Between The Last Key and this film, I pretty much rank them both joint lowest, because they really fail as horror films altogether. Chapter 3 is the first time we’re following someone outside of the Lamberts. I think this film only exists as an experiment to see if Elise is a character that we would come back for. I like that there’s Specs and Tucker, because they make Elise’s presence way more unserious (in a good way). But the film itself is genuinely kinda boring, and tries too hard to be like any other generic haunted house film. Truth be told, I couldn’t even remember the spirit in this film, because it was just so bad. 

5. Insidious: The Last Key 

This film is a prequel that gives us a backstory for demonologist Elise Rainier. Though this film isn’t scary at all, the concept of the evil spirit is pretty cool. A key finger that can be used to shut people up. I’d say not being able to scream out or yell is the scariest thing that could happen to you in a scary situation. Of course, we’re quite invested in Elise’s story, but despite that, I found this film rather boring. Plus it came out at a time where we were fully saturated with the haunted house films and didn’t feel like we needed anymore. 

4. Insidious: Out Of The Further 

The 6th film in a franchise that’s already died down, Out Of The Further tries really hard to do something different. I can’t say it was a good movie, but I wouldn’t call it outright terrible either. I quite enjoyed how the film plays out some of its horror scenes in the first half. It’s genuinely different for a haunted house (person) film. But that’s about it; the concepts are there, I like the idea of a Courier, but the film really fails to engage in the second half because we’re genuinely unafraid of these ghosts now. If it had continued its streak from the first half, with some gore and a little new dental horror in the mix, I feel like it could’ve been a much better film. 

3. Insidious: The Red Door 

Honestly, I’ll say that half the reason I enjoyed this film was because of nostalgia. This is a big fault on my part, I will admit, but when a family like this one suddenly comes back a whole decade later, it feels pretty great! I enjoyed the dynamic between father and son, and Patrick Wilson is a horror film veteran who just feels like a father figure to me at this point, with all the horror films under his belt. But leaving that aside, I liked how this film was different with its jump scares too. 

2. Insidious: Chapter 2 

The second film is better than the rest of the Insidious films by a mile, yet still not as good as the first. The film is a perfect direct sequel, with callbacks, time jumps, and other things that really immerse you in this universe. There is no way you can understand anything that happens in the second film without having seen the first. Also I love a male possession film; they’re so rare and so very exciting. Why does it always have to be women who suffer, eh? I especially love how this film essentially incorporates time travel in a haunted concept, kinda genius (also used by our beloved Mike Flanagan). 

Insidious: Chapter 1 

It’s very rare that the first of any film/book/show isn’t the best. In the Insidious franchise, the first film set a precedent that set the standards very high. It follows the Lambert family, where the oldest son, Dalton, suddenly goes into a coma. I know you’re getting chills as I describe the beginning of the plot, because it was just that good. Made all the way back in 2011, the film boasts one of the most thrilling jump scares in cinematic history. Though, I’m still curious how they thought a name like “Lipstick face” would be scary in any way. This still remains the best film in the franchise, but will we get more? 

I think the Insidious films are at their best only when the Lamberts are around. Sure, I really enjoyed Gemma as a character, but the film doesn’t build up enough of a world in which we could choose her over the Lamberts. In The Conjurings, the families are different but the Warrens are what make the films. Elise and the Warrens are unfortunately not the same, and though I let out a little cheer when she came on in Out Of The Further, I believe I yelped during The Conjuring. But with that said, let us know your thoughts on the franchise, and which film is your favorite! 

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