\in-ˈsi-dē-əs\

          I went to see the movie Insidious with my friends last night. Some other friends of mine already watched it earlier on, and they said that it was a horror worth watching, and quite the scream-jerker. So I went with a hopeful and high expectant mindset. I was ready for some screams, and held tightly on to my jacket, preparing myself to be scared silly.

          Alas, it was a not-so-scary experience; the first thing that went wrong was this bald middle-aged guy sitting in front of us with what I assumed to be his wife. Even before the movie started, he just suddenly, out of the blue, said "ok people shut up", between the ads and previews for upcoming movies. Then, when the actual movie actually started, he got a fit of hiccups. I mean, come on. Who, at that age, still get hiccups and can't control them? And then a few tens of minutes into the movie, he said again, "stop talking". Then someone from the back replied "you need to stop talking", and they went back and forth until the baldy's wife silenced him, and the 'ghost' appeared on screen =P
          Ok, back to the beginning of the story: it started strong; I really like the black-and-white oldie style, and then when we expect the story to start, it actually was just the credits and title. (but those oldie moments will make sense or be some important hints later on)
          I actually got a few shocks (but no screams; I just don't do screams haha) in the first half of the story. That's when they still were not sure what's wrong, and what's happening. Those state of confusion and insecurity of something unknown is much more terrifying than the actual 'terror'. Then when the story unfolds, I started to link things together, and actually correctly predicted some of the rest of the plot. So from then on it was kinda boring; I was going "see I totally see that coming" in my head.
          Then some more details and explanations were given, and those previously 'unknown' things we made clear. They gave options and ways to deal with the situation, and from then on I just don't see the horror; I just see it as an adventure. People fighting, dad rescuing his son, parent-ly love defeats all, etc. I was actually cheering them on, like "you go! fight him! punch! kick! you can do it!!"
          And one more thing to notice, is the details in the screen. I noticed just this, so I don't know if there's more. If you see the blackboard behind the dad when he was dismissing his students, you'll see "James Wan X2", and then a picture of SAW's puppet face (that one with a red swirly cheeks) under it. (James Wan is the director of Insidious, I believe.) Other than that, when they did close-ups of the ghosts, I just couldn't help but notice that their nose were moving, showing that they were breathing. I just found that funny, and maybe they were planning to play on people's fear of clowns by putting clown-like make ups on these ghosts, but I just found it funny, sorry. (my brain: clown==funny) Other than that, on the main 'insidious' creature: at first he looks scary, but after a while I kinda got used to the design and stopped feeling shocked/scared when I see him. And there's this one scene where he crawled on the wall that looked just fake/CG.
          And then there's the ending. It got some twists, and I kinda half-expecting it, but still like it anyway.
          All in all, I'd say it was worth watching, but maybe if you want more kicks out of it, you should bring friends who are really, easily scared and would scream their lungs out. Else, no kicks. Plus, I found Insidious somewhat like the Poltergeist, which might be scary as hell a long time ago, but not now.