“Insidious: The Last Key” is a step up, boasting some clever scares from new director Adam Robitel, a reasonably impressive demon-creature and, finally, something like an original story from Whannell. The early installments felt awfully slapdash, with crude effects and even cruder acting (even though co-creators James Wan and Leigh Whannell were established professionals who had given us the “Saw” franchise). If only the movies were just a little better. And good for this teen-targeted franchise for casting her time and again. Good for Shaye, enjoying a terrific run after a 40-year film career. Shaye’s Elise is as much the hunter as the hunted, a dogged ghostbuster who’s always first through the darkened doorway with a flashlight. Elise is allowed more dignity than those girls: She never has to seduce the audience by taking a shower, or run from a killer wearing only her bikini.

Shaye is 74, which makes Elise Rainier at least thrice the age of the baby sitters and camp counselors who traditionally serve as horror-film heroines. It isn’t the character she plays that’s noteworthy - a psychic named Elise - but her age. PLOT A psychic revisits the childhood home where she developed her gift.ĬAST Lin Shaye, Angus Sampson, Leigh WhannellīOTTOM LINE The lazy horror franchise steps up its game with some clever effects and a fairly compelling story.įour films in, the horror franchise “Insidious” deserves recognition for its unusual star, Lin Shaye.

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