Insidious: The Red Door reshoots enhanced the jump scares

Insidious: The Red Door, the fifth film in the Insidious horror franchise, is now in theatres (you can read our review HERE) – and it had a very successful opening weekend, drawing in $32.65 million at the domestic box office and $64 million worldwide on a budget that’s said to be around $16 million. Sony is probably feeling very glad that they already have the spin-off Thread: An Insidious Tale in the works, with Jeremy Slater writing/directing and Mandy Moore and Kumail Nanjiani attached to star. While examining the film’s success, Deadline revealed that there was a point when the filmmakers were concerned that the movie wasn’t scary enough, so there were reshoots to enhance the jump scares!

Deadline revealed, “the first cut of Insidious: The Red Door was looking pale, and in need of jump scares with the filmmakers looking to push the release. For Blumhouse, Insidious was a vital franchise grossing over $542M WW; it was one of their cornerstones along with Paranormal Activity, Sinister and The Purge that they built their model off of and reputation for low budget movies, whereby filmmaker and cast reap the post-theatrical moolah upsides. They couldn’t fail here with a fan-fave sequel. (Sony’s Tom Rothman) stood firm on the theatrical release date. When it comes to making a movie work at the box office, more than stars, it’s the release date. Insidious scribe Leigh Whannell got under the hood and worked with (director/star Patrick Wilson) in Atlanta, GA to make Red Door razor-sharp scary with reshoots.”

The result, according to the review written by our own Tyler Nichols, is “an absurd number of jump scares”. Tyler finds them annoying, but a lot of movie-goers seem to really enjoy them.

Insidious: The Red Door marks the feature directorial debut of Insidious and Insidious: Chapter 2 star Patrick Wilson. The screenplay was written by Halloween Kills co-writer Scott Teems, based on an idea from Leigh Whannell, who created the franchise with James Wan. The story catches up with the family from the first two films, the Lamberts, ten years after the end of Insidious 2. Josh Lambert heads east to drop his son Dalton off at an idyllic, ivy-covered university. However, Dalton’s college dream becomes a nightmare when the repressed demons of his past suddenly return to haunt them both.

Wilson reprises the role of Josh Lambert, with Rose Byrne returning as his wife Renai, Ty Simpkins as their son Dalton, and Andrew Astor as their son Foster. Also in the cast are Sinclair Daniel (Madam Secretary), Peter Dager (Demente Criminal), and Hiam Abbass (Blade Runner 2049).

Insidious: The Red Door comes to us from Screen Gems and Stage 6 Films. Jason Blum produced the film for Blumhouse, alongside James Wan, Leigh Whannell, and Oren Peli. Steven Schneider, Ryan Turek, and Brian Kavanaugh Jones serve as executive producers.

Have you seen Insidious: The Red Door? If so, let us know what you thought of the movie (and its jump scares) by leaving a comment below.