History Film / InsidIous

* ParanormalInvestigation: Tucker and Specs start out as amateur ghost hunters online, and get more serious about the business when Elise takes them under their wing. Operating under the name Spectral Sightings, they show up once the protagonists of the movies realize they need specialists for their supernatural predicament.

* TheToothHurts: [[spoiler:Some of Josh's teeth fall out when his physical body is possessed by Parker Crane.]]
* ThoseTwoGuys: Specs and Tucker are always seen together, sport matching outfits, and often comment on or explain the events unfolding.

The original follows a similar formula to film ''Film/{{Poltergeist|1982}}'' where an evil supernatural force abducts Dalton's spirit for their own ends, except they want to possess his physical body for use on this side rather than keep him and his physical body on the otherside. Similar to ''Poltergiest'', Josh must cross over to the otherside (The Further) and rescue Dalton from his prison only with AstralProjection. Unfortunately, Josh can't imagine what dangers await him in this plane of the dead and an old nemesis from his childhood awaits his arrival.

** Meanwhile, Elise, suspecting that Josh is possessed by the Bride in Black blows her pretense of ignorance by snapping a photo of Josh's body which guarantee's that the Bride becomes enraged and strangles her to death. The film prequels even make it clear that Elise had previous encounters with the Bride in Black and was threatened by them making her death feel at least delay-able by not letting on that she senses something off about Josh's body. The main consolation is that Elise is OnlyMostlyDead even in spite of losing her physical body, able to aid her allies in spirit and thus still affect the plot.

** Meanwhile, Elise, suspecting that Josh is possessed by the Bride in Black blows her pretense of ignorance by snapping a photo of Josh's body which guarantee's that the Bride becomes enraged and strangles her to death. The film prequels even make it clear that Elise had previous encounters with the Bride in Black and was threatened by them making her death feel at least delay-able by not letting on that she senses something off about Josh's body. The main consolation is that Elise is OnlyMostlyDead, able to aid her allies spirit and thus still affect the plot.

** Meanwhile, Elise, suspecting that Josh is possessed by the Bride in Black blows her pretense of ignorance by snapping a photo of Josh's body which guarantee's that the Bride becomes enraged and strangles her to death. The film prequels even make it clear that Elise had previous encounters with the Bride in Black and was threatened by them making her death feel at least delay-able by not letting on that she senses something off about Josh's body.

* BigBadEnsemble: The Black Bride and The Man Who Can't Breathe in ''Chapter 3''. The former is a threat to Elise and the latter to Quinn. They work independently and never share any scenes. [[spoiler: At the end, the Red-Faced Demon arrives to challenge Elise as well.]]

* ForTheEvulz: The Black Bride in ''Chapter 3'' attacks Elise in The Further just to antagonize her.

The original follows a similar formula to film ''Film/{{Poltergeist}}'' where an evil supernatural force abducts Dalton's spirit for their own ends, except they want to possess his physical body for use on this side rather than keep him and his physical body on the otherside. Similar to ''Poltergiest'', Josh must cross over to the otherside (The Further) and rescue Dalton from his prison only with AstralProjection. Unfortunately, Josh can't imagine what dangers await him in this plane of the dead and an old nemesis from his childhood awaits his arrival.

The first film was directed by Creator/JamesWan, Whannell's frequent collaborator and director of the first ''Film/{{Saw}}'', and released in 2011 after premiering in a film festival several months earlier. The story centers on the Lambert family, consisting of father Josh (Creator/PatrickWilson), mother Renai (Creator/RoseByrne), and their three children, the oldest being ten-year-old Dalton. As they begin to settle into a new home, they experience strange noises and other unexplained phenomena. Soon Dalton is rushed to the hospital after slipping into a coma shortly after falling off a ladder in the attic. Months slip by, and the doctors still have no explanation for his continuing coma. When the boy is returned home under his mother's care, more frightening events occur in the home. The mother is so horrified that she moves the family to a another new home in hopes of leaving the fearful memories behind them.

The second film, ''Insidious: Chapter 2'', was released on September (Friday the) 13th, 2013 and was once again directed by Wan. It follows the fallout of the first film as the Lamberts try to move on from their previous experiences by moving to the residence of Josh's mother, Lorraine (Creator/BarbaraHershey). However, it's soon made clear that the haunting has not yet stopped and in fact increases by a magnitude. The family race through time trying to discover the truth behind it and determine what connection it has with Josh, who seems to become the new target of haunting.

The third film, ''Insidious: Chapter 3'', is a prequel and was released June 5, 2015. Wan stepped down from the director role, replaced by Whannell. The film is set several years before the events of the first film and focuses on Quinn Brenner (Creator/StefanieScott), an aspiring young theater actress who longs to speak with her deceased mother, Lillith. However, her life takes a turn for the worse when a mysterious entity starts to stalk and physically endanger her. Quinn's father (Creator/DermotMulroney) and brother contacts paranormal investigators Specs and Tucker, including a jaded Elise, still recovering from the death of her husband, to help him save Quinn.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The third film's premise hinges on Quinn's request for Elise to contact her mother, but this ends up attracting a demon's attention to her. [[spoiler: All in all, she does manage to reach Lilith, but after suffering from a horrific haunting first.]]

* DisappearedDad: Josh's father is nowhere to be seen. Lorraine is already a single mother when Elise met her for the first time in 1986.

* LongLostRelative: In ''The Last Key'', a day after her arrived at Five Keys, Elise stumbles upon her brother, Christian, whom she knows very well, yet have separated for years, as well his daughters, Imogen and Melissa, whom she does not know about until meeting them.
* MamaBear: Aubrey Reinier, Elise's mother. [[spoiler: In life and in death. Elise plays Christian's whistle and, out of nowhere, there she is, bypassing the spirit world and the Further in the blink of an eye. She proceeds to OneHitKill Key Face, a demon that previously defeated three people working in unison.]]

* TraumaCongaLine: Elise's life story is nothing but [[TheChewToy this]]. [[spoiler: When she was a kid, she was emotionally and physically abused by her father, who told her that no one would love someone like her, because he hated and feared her powers. Her mother died because she unwittingly let a demon into their house, something that continues to haunt her into old age, and her father, predictably, blamed her. Years afterward, she finally snapped and ran away from home. While Elise later married Jack and had a good life, that ended when Jack committed suicide. She's coaxed by helping Quinn Brenner to help contact the ladder's mother, which almost gets Elise killed. Then when she tries to make amends to her brother after visiting home to investigate her childhood home for ghosts, her brother lashes out at her for abandoning him to deal with their father's abuse alone. Her niece almost immediately gets killed by the spirit haunting her childhood home, which turned out to be the same spirit who possessed her abusive father and had him kill and dismember women in their basement.]] She goes through this and [[HopeSpot finally gets closure from her remaining family]]...then she's called by Lorraine Lambert, who's son Elise helped be free of the Bride in Black when he was a boy, to help her haunted grandson Dalton. [[DownerEnding We know how this ends]].

''Insidious'' is a 2011 thriller/horror film directed by Creator/JamesWan, co-creator of the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' series (and director of ''Film/SawI'') and director of ''Film/TheConjuring''.

Josh and Renai Lambert have three children, the oldest being ten-year-old Dalton. As they begin to settle into a new home, they experience strange noises and other unexplained phenomena. Soon Dalton is rushed to the hospital after slipping into a coma shortly after falling off a ladder in the attic. Months slip by, and the doctors still have no explanation for his continuing coma. When the boy is returned home under his mother's care, more frightening events occur in the home. The mother is so horrified that she moves the family to a another new home in hopes of leaving the fearful memories behind them.

The family quickly discovers that the haunting has nothing to do with their home, but rather from Dalton. A team of paranormal experts, ghost-hunters Specs and Tucker and psychic Elise, observe Dalton, the family, and their home. They determine that Dalton is trapped on the other side in a dark world they call The Further. The parents team with them to try to bring their boy back from The Further and save him from the clutches of a dark entity that hopes to claim him as his own.

A sequel, ''Insidious: Chapter 2'', was released on September (Friday the) 13th, 2013 and was once again directed by Wan. It follows the fallout of the first film as the Lamberts try to move on from their previous experiences by moving to the residence of Josh's mother, Lorraine. However, it's soon made clear that the haunting has not yet stopped and in fact increases by a magnitude. The family race through time trying to discover the truth behind it and determine what connection it has with Josh, who seems to become the new target of haunting.

The third film, ''Insidious: Chapter 3'', is a prequel and was released June 5, 2015. It was directed by Wan's long-time friend and ''Saw'' co-creator Leigh Whannell. The film is set several years before the events of the first film and focuses on Quinn Brenner, an aspiring young theater actress who longs to speak with her deceased mother, Lillith. However, her life takes a turn for the worse when a mysterious entity starts to stalk and physically endanger her. Quinn's father and brother contacts paranormal investigators Specs and Tucker, including a jaded Elise, still recovering from the death of her husband, to help him save Quinn.

* HatePlague: [[spoiler: Key Face from ''The Last Key'' transforms patriarchs who live in the Rainier house into AxCrazy abusers who would lock women inside a hidden room in the cellar, where they would kill them, let the demon take their spirits to the Further, and then hide their remains in suitcases lodged in the airway. This happened not just to Gerald (who kidnapped and killed Anna) and Ted Garza (who kidnapped and almost kills Mara, but the latter is saved at the last second), but numerous other men in the past.]]

The original follows a similar formula to film ''Film/{{Poltergeist}}'' where an evil supernatural force abducts Dalton's spirit for their own ends, except they want to possess his physical body for use on this side rather than keep him and his physical body on the otherside. Similar to ''Poltergiest'', Josh must cross over to the otherside (The Further) and rescue Dalton from his prison except with AstralProjection, but Josh can't imagine what dangers await him in this plane of the dead and an old nemesis awaits his arrival.

The original follows a similar formula to film ''Film/{{Poltergeist}}'' where an evil supernatural force abducts Dalton's spirit for their own ends, except they want to possess his physical body for use on this side rather than keep him and his physical body on the otherside. Similar to ''Poltergiest'', Josh must cross over to the otherside (The Further) and rescue Dalton from his prison except with AstraProjection, but Josh can't imagine what dangers await him in this plane of the dead and an old nemesis awaits his arrival.

The original follows a similar formula to film ''Film/{{Poltergeist}}'' where an evil supernatural force abducts Dalton for their own ends, except they want to possess his physical body rather than keep him and his physical body on the otherside. Similar to ''Poltergiest'', Josh must cross over to the otherside (The Further) and rescue Dalton from his prison, but Josh can't imagine what dangers await him in this plane of the dead.

Josh and Renai Lambert have three children, the oldest being ten-year-old Dalton. As they begin to settle into a new home, they experience strange noises and other unexplained phenomena. Soon Dalton is rushed to the hospital after slipping into a coma shortly after falling off a ladder in the attic. Months slip by, and the doctors still have no explanation for his continuing coma. When the boy is returned home under his mother's care, more frightening events occur in the home. The mother is so horrified that she moves the family to a another new home in hopes of leaving the fearful memories behind them. The family quickly discovers that the haunting has nothing to do with their home, but rather from Dalton. A team of paranormal experts, ghost-hunters Specs and Tucker and psychic Elise, observe Dalton, the family, and their home. They determine that Dalton is trapped on the other side in a dark world they call The Further. The parents team with them to try to bring their boy back from The Further and save him from the clutches of a dark entity that hopes to claim him as his own.

** In ''The Last Key'', Specs strikes a blow to Ted in the back of the head due to his hostility once Tucker and Specs discover he has abducted someone. Fair enough, but then Specs decides to drop a bookshelf on his head rather than grabbing his firearm. Sure, it was a tense situation with an armed assailant but the team doesn't suffer much of a setback for Specs committing manslaughter.

** Josh, though he didn't die from it. Before [[spoiler: going back to his body after retrieving Dalton from The Further]], he met [[spoiler: the Bride in Black that tried to possess him when he was 8]]. With not much time left, he chose to confront her instead of continuing on his way. In the end, the few seconds he lost [[spoiler: prevented him from coming back in our world, and lead to Elise's demise]].
** Elise, suspecting that Josh is possessed by the Bride in Black blows her pretense of ignorance by snapping a photo of Josh's body which guarantee's that the Bride becomes enraged and strangles her to death. The film prequels even make it clear that Elise had previous encounters with the Bride in Black and was threatened by them making her death feel at least delay-able by not letting on that she senses something off about Josh's body.

** Elise, suspecting that Josh is possessed by the Bride in Black blows her pretense of ignorance by snapping a photo of Josh's body which guarantee's that the Bride becomes enraged and strangles her to death. The film prequels even make it clear that Elise had previous encounters with the Bride in Black and was threatened by them making her death feel at least delay-able.

* TooDumbToLive: Josh, though he didn't die from it. Before [[spoiler: going back to his body after retrieving Dalton from The Further]], he met [[spoiler: the Bride in Black that tried to possess him when he was 8]]. With not much time left, he chose to confront her instead of continuing on his way. In the end, the few seconds he lost [[spoiler: prevented him from coming back in our world, and lead to Elise's demise]].

-->[[spoiler:'''Aubrey:''' Hands off my little girl!]]

* TraumaCongaLine: Elise's life story is nothing but [[TheChewToy this]]. [[spoiler: When she was a kid, she was emotionally and physically abused by her father, who told her that no one would love someone like her, because he hated and feared her powers. Her mother died because she unwittingly let a demon into their house, something that continues to haunt her into old age, and her father, predictably, blamed her. Years afterward, she finally snapped and ran away from home. While Elise later married Jack and had a good life, that ended when Jack committed suicide. She's coaxed by helping Quinn Brenner to help contact the ladder's mother, which almost gets Elise killed. Then when she tries to make amends to her brother after visiting home to investigate her childhood home for ghosts, her brother lashes out at her for abandoning him to deal with their father's abuse alone. Her niece almost immediately gets killed by the spirit haunting her childhood home, which turned out to be the same spirit who possessed her abusive father and had him kill and dismember women in their basement. She goes through this and [[HopeSpot finally gets closure from her remaining family]]...then she's called by Lorraine Lambert, who's son Elise helped be free of the Bride in Black when he was a boy, to help her haunted grandson Dalton. [[DownerEnding We know how this ends]].

* ThoseTwoGuys: Tucker and Specs, in all four films.

* VitriolicBestBuds: Specs and Tucker spend a lot of time bickering and snarking at each other, but are shown to truly care about each other.

* TraumaCongaLine: Elise's life story is nothing but [[TheChewToy this]]. [[spoiler: When she was a kid, she was emotionally and physically abused by her father, who told her that no one would love someone like her, because he hated and feared her powers. Her mother died because she unwittingly let a demon into their house, something that continues to haunt her into old age, and her father, predictably, blamed her. Years afterward, she finally snapped and ran away from home. While Elise later married Jack and had a good life, that ended when Jack committed suicide. She's coaxed by helping Quinn Brenner to help contact the ladder's mother, which almost gets Elise killed. Then when she tries to make amends to her brother after visiting home to investigate her childhood home for ghosts, her brother lashes out at her for abandoning him to deal with their father's abuse alone. Her niece almost immediately gets killed by the spirit haunting her childhood home, which turned out to be the same spirit who possessed her abusive father and had him kill and dismember women in their basement. She goes through this and [[HopeSpot finally gets closure from her remaining]]...then her old Lorraine Lambert calls her to help her grandson Dalton. [[DownerEnding We know how this ends]].