Insidious: The Red Door is coming to haunt your dreams. Star and first time director Patrick Wilson, along with his fellow cast members Ty Simpkins, Sinclair Daniel and Lin Shaye chat to whynow about bringing the horror franchise back to life in this exclusive interview. It’s a really great time to be a horror fan right now. Lee Cronin did the impossible and brought Evil Dead back in a gloriously gory fashion. We’re getting a proper Five Nights at Freddy’s adaptation this year and it looks terrifying. Horror directors are consistently being hired for the top jobs in Hollywood. The first Insidious, released in 2010, was the brainchild of Leigh Whannell and James Wan, the two blokes behind Saw. The memorable scares in Insidious quickly made it into a franchise and Insidious: The Red Door, in cinemas 7 July, is the fifth film in the franchise. The film continues the story of the Lambert family, who still can’t shake the demonic dimension only known as The Further.Insidious was always the slightly camp, funnier cousin to Wan’s The Conjuring universe, but there was always something very visceral about the jumpscares in the Insidious films.
Credit: Sony Pictures
“I want our audiences to have the kind of Insidious movie that they’re used to and that they expect and yet, I wanted to push it. I wanted to give them something new,” says Patrick Wilson who plays Josh Lambert in the film and also makes his directorial debut with The Red Door. The first two Insidious films focused on the Lambert family. Josh and his wife Renai (Rose Byrne, also returning in the new film) went through every family’s nightmare when their young son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) fell into a coma in Insidious. With the help of the psychic Elise (Lin Shaye), the Lamberts found out Dalton is lost somewhere in The Further and Josh, who also had the ability to travel there, saved him, only to be possessed by a spirit himself, leading to the events of the second film. After the third and fourth films in the franchise focused on different families, The Red Door brings the focus back to The Lamberts. Shaye, whose character Elise technically died in the first film, but has appeared in every single Insidious movie since, credits the family dynamic as one of the reasons Insidious has remained popular. “You first fell in love with this family, and that they were in jeopardy was very upsetting. And I think that drew you into the horror that James Wan created around us with the monsters. The fear factor became very powerful, because you feared for this family as well as [for] yourself at that point,” the 79-year-old actress says. Elise is arguably the heart and soul of Insidious, the one constant throughout the franchise. Shaye has appeared in many more horror films, earning herself the title ‘scream queen’, but Insidious is by far her most iconic role. Shaye says Elise is someone with “big antennas” and that she is “a good listener and a good radio” when it comes to other people. “When you think of us, how limited we are with what we hear and what we see, we’re sort of closed off, we have blinkers on half the time, you don’t really look around to see what’s happening. And Elise has the ability and the need to take in information. I think there’s something very appealing about seeing that.”
Elise has become the heart and soul of Insidious films since the very first one where she helped the Lamberts get Dalton back from The Further. Credit: Momentum Films
Simpkins is another actor returning to his role in the franchise. He was only 9-years-old when he played Dalton in the very first film. Since then, he has appeared in some of the biggest franchise films of our time, including Jurassic World and Avengers: Endgame. He also appeared in Darren Aronofsky’s acclaimed The Whale earlier this year. Now, at 21, he was able to relate to Dalton, who heads off to college in The Red Door, in a whole new way. “He was going through a lot of the same stuff that I was going through at the time and just to be able to express that through this was a really fun, very fun and healthy thing to do,” the actor tells whynow. “I think it’s always a fun challenge when you get presented with something that you’ve never really done before, and especially someone like Dalton, who I’ve played around with for 12 years, it’s a really exciting thing to be able to visit him again. And now that he’s a fully fleshed out character.”
Wilson and Simpkins on set of Insidious: The Red Door. Credit: Sony Pictures
If Shaye, Wilson and Simpkins were all returning to the roles they’ve been mulling around for over a decade, Sinclair Daniel had the challenge of joining a very tight-knit group, a cinematic family.“The fact that all the original family members were back and Patrick was directing. And we had people on the crew who’d been in previous movies in all departments. This was a very well established group of people. So I was definitely a little nervous coming into it,” Daniel says. In the film, she plays Chris, Dalton’s new roommate at college, who also gets a taste of the horrors that seem to follow Dalton. Despite being nervous to join the Insidious family, Daniel speaks highly of the experience.“I’d say by halfway through the first day, that all fell away, everybody was so nice and welcoming, and just happy to be there and making this movie that they all care so much about.”
Insidious: The Red Door is perhaps the most meaningful to Wilson. The acclaimed actor is making his directorial debut and closing out the Lambert chapter of Insidious. Wilson makes crafting scares look easy, but then again, he did learn from the best. Wilson has worked with Wan in 7 films total and Wan is credited as a producer in The Red Door. When I ask Wilson what he’s learned from observing Wan so closely over the years, the actor turned director laughs nervously. “That’s a loaded question,” he chuckles before answering in his typical humble nature. “I wasn’t one of those people that I went and shadowed him,” Wilson says. “I see how efficient he is with the camera, I see how he is with actors, I see how he is with tension, setting up scares and setting up the shot. But more than that, [it] really was something that he said to me before shooting this. He just said ‘make it yours’.”
Director James Wan and Patrick Wilson attend SiriusXM’s Town Hall With The Cast Of ‘Aquaman’ on December 4, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
Mission accomplished; The Red Door feels like a completely different type of Insidious film. It’s much more serious in tone, for one and the film has a laser-tight focus on the Lambert family, especially the restrained relationship between Josh and Dalton. “Even if people don’t realise, [James Wan] is a very emotional director, meaning that he loves to have those character scenes and relationships, he knows that that’s what people care about. That’s the thing that I probably dug into the most, just understanding that it’s not just about getting to the scare,” Wilson describes. While it might not be all about the scares, Wilson does seem very capable of crafting those big jumpscares Insidious became known for. The series’ most famous scare is in the first film, when a red-faced demon (lovingly called the Red Lipstick Demon) suddenly appears behind Wilson’s Josh out of nowhere, scarring an entire generation for life. Wilson notes that jump scares are “technical” in nature, but refuses to take credit for them.
The Red Lipstick Demon jumpscare is the most famous moment from Insidious. Credit: Momentum Pictures
“What can I say? I had a great script and great setup, great help with a lot of people and that’s certainly part of it,” he says. “It’s [in] the setup, people expect something and then that comes out of nowhere. And that’s the jumpscare.”Wilson might be self-effacing about his directing abilities, but his cast have nothing but praise for him. Shaye calls him “fabulous” as a director.“He’s very smart. He’s very thoughtful. He’s very quick,” the actress notes and describes Wilson’s transition from actor to director “totally seamless”.
This is Ty Simpkins’ fourth role as Patrick Wilson’s son. Credit: Sony Pictures
Simpkins also commends Wilson’s direction. “I always feel like my best work comes out when I trust and know my director, and I’m very close with my director, because it’s easy to communicate what he wants and what I think about the character. So to have someone like Patrick, who I already have this pre-existing relationship with, it was a very smooth transition,” Simpkins, who has played Wilson’s son in three Insidious films as well as in Todd Field’s Little Children, says. “On top of that, he’s a very technical person when it comes to acting. He was able to very clearly describe what he wanted from his scenes and what the moment you’re trying to create is and where the character’s head space is at the time and he’s also very open to your own input, which I love,” the actor adds. Daniel agrees wholeheartedly.
Credit: Sony Pictures
“Patrick made it very comfortable, this was my first time on a set like this. He’s an actor, director, writer. He does it all. So he knows how to talk to you at any given moment, and I really appreciated that,” she tells whynow.Insidious: The Red Door brings the Lambert story to a close, but who knows, maybe there is more room for stories about The Further in our future. Insidious: The Red Door is in cinemas 7 July.
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“I want our audiences to have the kind of Insidious movie that they’re used to and that they expect and yet, I wanted to push it. I wanted to give them something new,” says Patrick Wilson who plays Josh Lambert in the film and also makes his directorial debut with The Red Door.
The first two Insidious films focused on the Lambert family. Josh and his wife Renai (Rose Byrne, also returning in the new film) went through every family’s nightmare when their young son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) fell into a coma in Insidious.
With the help of the psychic Elise (Lin Shaye), the Lamberts found out Dalton is lost somewhere in The Further and Josh, who also had the ability to travel there, saved him, only to be possessed by a spirit himself, leading to the events of the second film.
After the third and fourth films in the franchise focused on different families, The Red Door brings the focus back to The Lamberts. Shaye, whose character Elise technically died in the first film, but has appeared in every single Insidious movie since, credits the family dynamic as one of the reasons Insidious has remained popular.
“You first fell in love with this family, and that they were in jeopardy was very upsetting. And I think that drew you into the horror that James Wan created around us with the monsters. The fear factor became very powerful, because you feared for this family as well as [for] yourself at that point,” the 79-year-old actress says.
Elise is arguably the heart and soul of Insidious, the one constant throughout the franchise. Shaye has appeared in many more horror films, earning herself the title ‘scream queen’, but Insidious is by far her most iconic role.
Shaye says Elise is someone with “big antennas” and that she is “a good listener and a good radio” when it comes to other people.
“When you think of us, how limited we are with what we hear and what we see, we’re sort of closed off, we have blinkers on half the time, you don’t really look around to see what’s happening. And Elise has the ability and the need to take in information. I think there’s something very appealing about seeing that.”
Simpkins is another actor returning to his role in the franchise. He was only 9-years-old when he played Dalton in the very first film. Since then, he has appeared in some of the biggest franchise films of our time, including Jurassic World and Avengers: Endgame. He also appeared in Darren Aronofsky’s acclaimed The Whale earlier this year.
Now, at 21, he was able to relate to Dalton, who heads off to college in The Red Door, in a whole new way.
“He was going through a lot of the same stuff that I was going through at the time and just to be able to express that through this was a really fun, very fun and healthy thing to do,” the actor tells whynow.
“I think it’s always a fun challenge when you get presented with something that you’ve never really done before, and especially someone like Dalton, who I’ve played around with for 12 years, it’s a really exciting thing to be able to visit him again. And now that he’s a fully fleshed out character.”
If Shaye, Wilson and Simpkins were all returning to the roles they’ve been mulling around for over a decade, Sinclair Daniel had the challenge of joining a very tight-knit group, a cinematic family.
“The fact that all the original family members were back and Patrick was directing. And we had people on the crew who’d been in previous movies in all departments. This was a very well established group of people. So I was definitely a little nervous coming into it,” Daniel says.
In the film, she plays Chris, Dalton’s new roommate at college, who also gets a taste of the horrors that seem to follow Dalton. Despite being nervous to join the Insidious family, Daniel speaks highly of the experience.
“I’d say by halfway through the first day, that all fell away, everybody was so nice and welcoming, and just happy to be there and making this movie that they all care so much about.”
Mission accomplished; The Red Door feels like a completely different type of Insidious film. It’s much more serious in tone, for one and the film has a laser-tight focus on the Lambert family, especially the restrained relationship between Josh and Dalton.
“Even if people don’t realise, [James Wan] is a very emotional director, meaning that he loves to have those character scenes and relationships, he knows that that’s what people care about. That’s the thing that I probably dug into the most, just understanding that it’s not just about getting to the scare,” Wilson describes.
While it might not be all about the scares, Wilson does seem very capable of crafting those big jumpscares Insidious became known for. The series’ most famous scare is in the first film, when a red-faced demon (lovingly called the Red Lipstick Demon) suddenly appears behind Wilson’s Josh out of nowhere, scarring an entire generation for life.
Wilson notes that jump scares are “technical” in nature, but refuses to take credit for them.
“What can I say? I had a great script and great setup, great help with a lot of people and that’s certainly part of it,” he says.
“It’s [in] the setup, people expect something and then that comes out of nowhere. And that’s the jumpscare.”
Wilson might be self-effacing about his directing abilities, but his cast have nothing but praise for him. Shaye calls him “fabulous” as a director.
“He’s very smart. He’s very thoughtful. He’s very quick,” the actress notes and describes Wilson’s transition from actor to director “totally seamless”.
Simpkins also commends Wilson’s direction.
“I always feel like my best work comes out when I trust and know my director, and I’m very close with my director, because it’s easy to communicate what he wants and what I think about the character. So to have someone like Patrick, who I already have this pre-existing relationship with, it was a very smooth transition,” Simpkins, who has played Wilson’s son in three Insidious films as well as in Todd Field’s Little Children, says.
“On top of that, he’s a very technical person when it comes to acting. He was able to very clearly describe what he wanted from his scenes and what the moment you’re trying to create is and where the character’s head space is at the time and he’s also very open to your own input, which I love,” the actor adds.
Daniel agrees wholeheartedly.
“Patrick made it very comfortable, this was my first time on a set like this. He’s an actor, director, writer. He does it all. So he knows how to talk to you at any given moment, and I really appreciated that,” she tells whynow.
Insidious: The Red Door brings the Lambert story to a close, but who knows, maybe there is more room for stories about The Further in our future.
