After five films, 16 years, and a shifting horror landscape, the Insidious franchise returns with its sixth installment, Insidious: Out of the Further. According to a review by Alicia Adejobi, the film is possibly the most chilling the series has been in years, ushering in a new era under director Jacob Chase, best known for his 2020 horror Come Play.
A New Direction with a Fresh Cast
Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne, who reprised their roles in the 2023 sequel The Red Door, are sitting out this installment. The baton is handed to a largely new crew, with Amelia Eve starring as Gemma, a single mother haunted by her past after discovering she can enter the Further. The review notes that Gemma can bring what she discovers in the Further straight back into the real world, a twist that provides some of the most unsettling scenes.
One particularly disturbing sequence involves Gemma, a hygienist, pulling what feels like a metre of hair from a patient’s gums while he simultaneously grows another set of teeth. She is also spied on by a triplet of creepy, elderly neighbours with menacing smiles. Until now, the Further—the purgatorial realm of lost souls—has largely been separate from the real world, but Gemma encountering them in very real scenarios moves the lore into a place that feels fresh, according to the review.
Self-Aware Storytelling and Comic Relief
The review states that Out of the Further is very self-aware, with director Chase and writer James Wan, who created the franchise, realising that the rules might have gotten a little muddled and blurred. To educate Gemma and her police officer boyfriend Nick (Brandon Perea) about the Further, the film uses illustrations of the demons on grapefruits, serving as a moment of comic relief and a witty tool to refresh the audience’s memory.
Where Insidious succeeds in its first half with genuine scares—the review notes that sofa cushions have never felt more claustrophobic—it meanders into a slightly overdone second half. The grand finale with Gemma confronting the Further acolytes had some good jump scares, but the review suggests that sometimes, less is more.
Casting and Franchise Anchor
The casting choices were pretty perfect, according to the review, with Eve and Perea fine choices to carry the baton from Wilson and Byrne as the new on-screen couple. Eve serves as the emotional drive behind the story, while Perea offers complimentary light relief in tense moments, particularly in his relationship with Gemma’s young daughter. The series has not lost its true anchor in the form of paranormal expert Elise (Lin Shaye), who is the real connector between each installment. Despite her character dying in the first film, she always finds a way to showcase the best of humanity against the supernatural, and the review praises seeing her kick ass in the Further.
Verdict and Place in the Horror Landscape
The review distinguishes between where Out of the Further sits in the current landscape and where it ranks in the entire franchise. It offers an incredibly fun time with some of the best scares in the film series that feel different to what has been seen so far, though nothing can top the original. However, when considering the originality of some great horrors released in 2026, Out of the Further does not necessarily offer anything different in the grand scheme of things. The review concludes that this is not a terrible thing if the goal is to have a good scare and an entertaining watch—after six films, one could not expect anything more. The film is rated 15, runs 1 hour and 46 minutes, and is released on Friday, August 21.
