"A few years before the Lambert haunting", bright teenager Quinn (Scott) is desperate to speak to her dead mother before her high school graduation, so she gets in touch with Elise (Shaye), a retired medium who is terrified at the thought of returning to the world of the dead. But when a spirit starts menacing Quinn, her father (Mulroney) persuades Elise to help. In addition, Quinn's little brother Alex (Berney) convinces them to call in internet ghostbusters Tucker and Specs (Sampson and Whannell). With Quinn's life in the balance, Elise enters "the further" to rescue her.

As a writer, Whannell adds plenty of enjoyable wrinkles to the script, deepening the characters with emotional back-stories that resonate strongly, helping the audience sympathise with the characters and feel their fear. As a director, he's skilled at building suspense, although he doesn't seem to believe in himself, adding unnecessary loud crashing sounds that actually undermine the scariest moments by making us jump instead of have a more effective full-body shiver.

There's also a slight problem in the main nemesis, a ghost called "The Man Who Can't Breathe" (played by MacKay), who is so repulsive that he's almost comical. Even so, the excellent Shaye layers so much into her performance that she elevates the film into something more intriguing than expected, using comedy and some very dark introspection to make the most of Whannell's cheapest tricks. Mulroney also offers some gravitas as the harried dad, while Scott has some strong scenes early on.

This movie is so polished that it can't help but frighten the audience, so fans who enjoy the same old scares will enjoy it for what it is. Instead of the trilogy's concluding chapter, this feels more like the launching point for a franchise (or more accurately the pilot for a TV series). Whannell is a clever and skilled filmmaker, but if he wants these characters to run and run, he'll need to up his game and come up with something groundbreaking. Because while this induces the chills, it's nothing we haven't seen before.

themes, language, violence

2.Jun.15