Written by Leigh Whannell
Directed by Adam Robitel
Audrey (to Elise): "You know, you've been blessed with a gift. You're special. Some people are afraid of special people."
With the first two movies focused on the Lamberts and the third one being a prequel about the Brenners, I'm surprised this was also a prequel. Two prequel movies in a row? It did seem like an odd decision to be honest.
Then again, the focus happened to be on a young Elise Rainier (Ava Kolker/Hana Hayes). Years before being a demonology, Elise learned the hard way that her brute of a father, Gerald (Josh Stewart) didn't take kindly to get abilities. In fact, he seemed to delight in punishing Elise for something she couldn't control.
Horror movies certainly do love the abusive parent trips and Gerald Rainier was pretty horrible to watch as a character. His brutality wasn't just reserved for Elise as her younger brother, Christian (Pierce Pope/Thomas Robie) also fell victim to Gerald as did their mother, Audrey (Tessa Ferrer). When the latter died, Elise copped the blame until she couldn't take it anymore and left home.
In more recent times, the Elise we know (Lin Shaye) was now in business with Specs (Leigh Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Sampson) and a case brought Elise back to her old family home. There was a man named Ted Garza (Ted Acevedo) who needed Elise's help but it turned out that he was holding a woman prisoner as he believed she was possessed.
On top of that, Elise was reunited with her brother, Christian (Bruce Davidson) and met her nieces, Melissa (Spencer Locke) and Imogen (Caitlin Gerard). Needless to say that Christian harboured resentment at his old sister for abandoning him while Imogen revealed that she had the same abilities that Elise had as well.
The rest of the movie played out with the reveal of both Ted and Gerard being influenced by Keyface (Javier Botet). We did get to see both Elise and Christian make amends with one another and put some ghosts to rest, so to speak.
- The last scene of the movie did set up the events of the first movie. There's an appearance from Quinn Brenner (Stefanie Scott) as well.
- A minus but definitely could've done without both Specs and Tucker trying it on with Melissa and Imogen.
- Standout music: Oak Street Blues Band's Long Holidays.
- Chronology: Flashbacks to 1953 in Five Keys, New Mexico as well in 2010 to lead back into the first movie.
Insidious: The Last Key managed to be a better prequel than the previous movie. I think Elise Rainier really has been the glue to this franchise and I sometimes do wonder if there was a regret in killing her off so early. I'm glad that even death hasn't prevented this franchise from exploring the character much further.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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