Insidious: Out of the Further Review

By Jon Scarr

Insidious: Out of the Further introduced a new lead I could get behind in Gemma, but it rarely gave me the scares I wanted from an Insidious movie. Amelia Eve is excellent in the role, and Gemma’s relationship with her daughter Maya makes the story more personal before it heads back into the Further. I was much more invested in that mother-daughter story than I was in the movie’s new supernatural threat.

This sixth entry leaves the Lambert family behind, but it doesn’t leave enough of the series’ familiar habits with them. Jacob Chase creates a few creepy sequences and some memorable imagery, yet too much explanation and a routine final stretch keep the movie from doing more with its new direction. I enjoyed it, but I wanted the Further to feel dangerous again more often than it did.

Insidious: Out of the Further Details

Movie: Insidious: Out of the Further

Genre: Horror

Director: Jacob Chase

Screenplay: Jacob Chase

Story: David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Jacob Chase

Distributor: Sony Pictures Entertainment Canada

Release Date: August 21, 2026

Runtime: 106 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Cast: Amelia Eve, Island Austin, Lin Shaye, Brandon Perea, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Sam Spruell, Laura Gordon

This review is spoiler-free and avoids major story reveals.

A New Family Enters the Further

Gemma is raising Maya in the same house where she grew up. She is determined not to repeat what she experienced as a child. That fear is what I connected with most in the story. When strange things start happening around her, the movie ties the supernatural side back to something personal instead of treating Maya as just another person who needs saving.

Gemma’s ability to enter the Further changes how this movie approaches the supernatural side. She isn’t only trying to escape whatever is waiting there. Her connection to the Further is part of the problem, and I liked what that opened up for the story.

Where the movie loses me is how much it talks through the rules. Clare and Elise have to explain Gemma’s ability, the Further, and why Cyrus matters. By the time all of that is laid out, some of the mystery is gone. Newcomers should still be able to follow what is happening, but longtime fans will hear a lot they already know.

Amelia Eve Anchors the New Cast

Amelia Eve is the main reason the new family worked for me. Gemma is scared, frustrated, and worried about becoming more like her mother, and Eve handles all of that without overplaying it. I believed her as someone trying to hold things together even when she no longer trusts what she is seeing.

Island Austin also brings enough personality to Maya that the mother-daughter story feels real. Their smaller moments together were more interesting to me than most of the mythology surrounding Cyrus. I cared about what was happening to them, which is a big reason the movie held my attention when the supernatural story started getting more complicated.

I liked having Lin Shaye back as Elise. Every time Elise appears, the movie immediately feels connected to the rest of the series. I only wish she had more to do here because her appearances are limited.

Several characters gather together in a scene from Insidious: Out of the Further.

Brandon Perea’s Nick and Maisie Richardson-Sellers’ Clare both have their moments, but neither gets the same attention as Gemma. They mostly move Gemma from one part of the story to the next. By the end, I knew Gemma and Maya much better than I knew either of them.

Jacob Chase Finds Some Effective Scares

I liked the scares more when Jacob Chase let a location get creepy before anything happened. The Pillow Fort sequence is the clearest example. A familiar childhood space becomes narrow and disorienting, and the darkness turns every opening into somewhere you don’t want Gemma to go.

The dental-office scenes also got to me. Drills, close-up work, and being stuck in the chair are already uncomfortable before anything supernatural enters the picture. Chase gets a lot out of that discomfort without pushing the PG-13 rating into graphic territory.

The Further looks especially good here. Deep shadows, blue-black lighting, and narrow spaces make it feel hostile before anything even appears. Chase also holds on certain images long enough that you start searching the frame yourself instead of waiting for the movie to point out where the threat is.

Gemma and Elise search a dark hallway with flashlights in Insidious: Out of the Further.

There are some well-timed jump scares too. I still wanted more of them, but the better ones are effective because Chase lets the image sit before the scare arrives. That patience is when Out of the Further is at its creepiest.

Familiar Ideas Limit the Payoff

Gemma and Maya bring a different angle, and I liked seeing the series move away from the Lambert family. The Further, Elise, familiar demons, and another supernatural threat are all still here. That familiarity didn’t bother me on its own. I just wanted Gemma’s connection to the Further to push the story somewhere less expected.

Cyrus is also a different kind of threat than some of the creatures the series has used before. Sam Spruell has a creepy presence, and there are moments when I wanted the movie to do more with him. The more the story explains Cyrus, the less mysterious he becomes, but I liked the idea behind him.

A mysterious figure covers his face with ring-covered hands in Insidious: Out of the Further.

I had the same issue with the humour. A few lighter exchanges are fine because so much of the story deals with trauma and fear. Other jokes arrive right when a scene is starting to get scary, and the mood disappears almost immediately.

The ending is where I wanted a little more. The story keeps Gemma and Maya at the centre, which I liked, but the supernatural side heads toward familiar territory. It isn’t a bad finish, and it keeps the mother-daughter story intact. I just wanted the final stretch to take one bigger chance after some of the stranger imagery earlier in the movie.

Final Thoughts on Insidious: Out of the Further

I came away enjoying Insidious: Out of the Further more than its problems might suggest. Amelia Eve is a good addition, Gemma and Maya’s relationship kept me invested, and Jacob Chase finds several creepy ways to use familiar spaces. The Pillow Fort and dental scenes are the clearest examples of how effective the movie can be when it lets the horror take over.

I still wanted more scares between those sequences, and the movie explains some of its ideas more than it needs to. Cyrus also becomes less interesting once the mystery around him starts disappearing. Even so, those issues didn’t erase what I liked about the new family or the better horror scenes.

If you already enjoy Insidious, there’s plenty here you’ll recognize. Elise is back, the Further still has creepy places to explore, and Gemma gives the series somewhere new to go. It didn’t scare me as much as I wanted, but I enjoyed it and I’d like to see where this family goes next.