When a film is the sequel to a prequel, yet still titled "Chapter 4", it indicates that either the creators don't know how to manage an extended story or they're misinformed on how numerical order works. The latter is forgivable, but it's the former that causes Insidious: The Last Key to suffer.

This move, though never clearly identifying the meaning of its subtitle except to simply follow the trend of having "last" in it, is the final ghost hunting expedition of Elise Rainier, played by Lin Shaye, preceding the notoriously frightening case of Dalton Lambert.

But there are plenty of things wrong with The Last Key. Scares are cheap and few and far between throughout the film. In fact, there is more comic relief, courtesy of sidekicks Specs and Tucker played by Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson, than things to be afraid of. And just about every scene featuring Elise's estranged brother, Christian, is awkward, possibly because of poor acting, terrible scripting, or a combination of both.

With this chapter, Insidious has officially become a franchise that's overstayed its welcome. And while this film touts a "last key", part of me hopes this is the last outing for the series.

Acting and Casting - 0 | Visual Effects and Editing - 1 | Story and Message - 0 | Entertainment Value - 0 | Music Score and Soundtrack - 1 | Reviewer's Preference - 0