Insidious: Out of the Further (2026) Review: Better Than Expected, but Still Familiar

Insidious: Out of the Further was better than I thought it would be, even if it was all still incredibly familiar.

Well, it wasn’t as bad as I was anticipating…

The Good

• Amelia Eve is good as Gemma.

• A few good scenes.

• Lin Shaye returning as Elise Rainier is always welcome.

The Bad

• Too much reliance on familiar jump scares.

• The story doesn’t do enough with Gemma’s ability.

• Too many scenes feel like they’ve been lifted from previous films.

• The film could have done with some trimming.

• It feels frustratingly familiar for a franchise that needs to try something different.

Insidious: Out of the Further Plot

Gemma, a young mother raising her daughter in the house she grew up in, discovers she can travel into The Further, where she possesses an ability to bring what lives there back to the real world.

My Thoughts on Insidious: Out of the Further

I was hopeful more than anything

I’ve actually always liked the idea of the Further in these films - there’s something genuinely creepy about it, and I think the first two films made the most of that idea before we got to the point where we’ve seen so much of it that it was difficult for it to have the same effect anymore, even though there are a few moments in Insidious: Out of the Further that work fine.

We’re also now several films into this franchise, and I know what to expect with sequels in franchises, and that’s not too much at all, but I would/do like to see a bit of effort put into doing something a bit different.

Here though, we’re back to a lot of what we’ve seen before, with creepy figures appearing out of nowhere, music building up to the next scare, and scenes that feel like they could have been lifted from any of the previous films.

There are a couple of decent moments here as mentioned - the couch fort was a good idea, and the dental horror was probably one of the better bits- and there’s room to have some fun with the Further, so I would have liked to see the film come up with more unusual ways of making it creepy rather than going back to the same old tricks.

It’s not as though the franchise has run out of things it could do with the concept, but watching this, you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise. I know people go into an Insidious film expecting a certain kind of horror, and sequels in general don’t normally stray too far from what has made money before, but at some point you’d hope someone involved would want to try something a little different.

Amelia Eve Is Good, but the Story Could Be Better

Amelia Eve does a decent job playing Gemma, and I liked the idea of bringing in a new lead rather than going back to the Lambert family yet again, because there’s only so much you can do with the same characters before it starts feeling like you’re just going through the motions, which has already happened, so giving us someone new to follow was a good decision.

The ability to enter the Further and bring things back into the real world also gives the film something interesting to work with - there’s plenty of potential in that idea, and it could have been a good way to take the franchise in a slightly different direction.

The problem is that it doesn’t really do enough with it. We get an interesting concept, but the story ends up feeling like another Insidious film rather than something that takes the series somewhere new.

They could have done a lot more with Gemma’s ability, and also a lot more thought could have been put into what that means for the horror, but the film keeps simply falling back on familiar territory, again.

Amelia Eve is perfectly good in the role, but even a decent performance can only do so much when the story isn’t giving the character much to work with - it was good to see Lin Shaye back as Elise Rainier though, because she’s been such a big part of this franchise, and there’s a certain comfort in seeing her again.

But there’s only so much mileage you can get out of bringing back familiar faces, because at this point, I don’t think the series needs to keep looking backwards quite so much - it needed to give us a reason to care about where it’s going next.

Too Much Familiarity

I am sure anyone watching this film will know what they’re signing up for - creepy demons, strange figures lurking in the background and jump scares that are supposed to make you nearly spill your drink, as that’s all part of the fun, or at least it should be, but it does become less fun when you’ve seen the same tricks played out so many times before.

The first couple of Insidious films I thought worked fairly well, probably because it felt new and more fresh, but the longer it has gone on and the more aware of the franchise formula you are, you’re just begging for something else.

It isn’t completely without its moments, but there were way too many times when you feel like you have seen it all before, and if you watched all of the franchise so far, that won’t be a surprise.

I't’s the hope thats get ya.

It Could Have Been Shorter

Even though it isn’t overly long at 106 minutes, it does also feel longer than it needs to be. When a horror film isn’t doing enough to surprise you, every stretch where the story takes its time getting somewhere starts to become noticeable, and this could have done with a bit of trimming.

The idea of bringing things back from the Further should have been decent enough to build a film around and feel slightly different too at the same time, so there’s a perfectly good starting point here, and a new character gives the series a chance to move away from some of the things we’ve already seen several times too.

But the finished film doesn’t make enough of that opportunity - a few good scenes and a decent central idea can only carry things so far, particularly when the scare attempts start to lose their effect and the story feels like it’s taking the long way around.

Final Verdict

Personally, even with my complaints, I found it watchable enough, but also frustrating too, and there were a few decent moments that stopped it from being a complete waste of time.

I think it’s worth watching for a popcorn type movie if you’re a fan of the series, although I wouldn’t blame you to be far from beyond that point by now, but still far too familiar for a franchise that really needs to commit to trying something new without falling back on so much familiarity.

It’s better than most of the sequels though so far in the franchise, I will give it that much.

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