Insidious: The Last Key

Director Adam Robitel creates a tone unlike anything his predecessors generated; mournful yet warm, the movie engenders sympathy for the characters even as the action turns somber or gruesome.

Very quickly, it becomes completely mechanical.

Overall this is a predictable horror movie that relies on jump scares rather than mental darkness. Insidious may have run its course.

While the Insidious series has given Shaye a rare moment in the spotlight, there's a sense in which Elise has been cursed by Hollywood's endless demand for sequels.

A lot of the strengths of this movie comes from the performance by Lin Shaye as Elise. She's always good, but this film entirely focuses on her character, so she gets to shine a lot... and she really does.

Elise is a worthy hero, and a singular one, too.

The scares are mostly nonexistent.

You can expect the fun scares these films have provided over the last eight years, but after four films, it seems they are struggling to follow through in the last act. Providing a finale that is undeserving for a respected franchise.

...a surprisingly enthralling capper to a series that was on the verge of running out of steam.

[It operates] only to either telegraph a jump scare with its silence or drown the viewer in a cacophony of noises that are far more annoying than unnerving.