‘Insidious: Chapter 4’ Scares Up A Director And A Release Date
Universal isn’t ready to turn off the lights on itsInsidiousfranchise. The studio revealed today thatInsidious: Chapter 4is coming in 2017, withAdam Robitel(The Taking of Deborah Logan) directing from a script byLeigh Whannell.Lin Shayewill return as parapsychologist Elise Rainier. Watch a cute little video featuring Shaye and Whannell’s official announcement below.
As mentioned in the video, Universal has setInsidious: Chapter 4forOctober 20, 2017, right in the middle of the Halloween season. The date had previously been reserved for Its only other box office competition on that date so far is the Ben Affleck crime dramaLive By Night. Whannell, who wrote the first twoInsidiousmovies and wroteanddirectedInsidious: Chapter 3, provides the script.James Wan, who directedInsidiousandInsidious: Chapter 2, will produce along withOren PeliandJason Blum.Steven Schneider,Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, andCharles Laytonare executive producing.
Creatively, theInsidiousfilms have yielded diminishing returns.Chapter 3, which was the first one not directed by Wan, traded the tension and dread of the earlier films for jump scares and gimmicky monsters, and not even the new and different setting (it’s a prequel) could keep it from feeling familiar. But financially, they’re still thriving.Chapter 3’s grossed $112 million worldwide on a production budget of $10 million. The smart thing is to keep this series going until they’ve completely run it into the ground.
No plot details have been revealed forInsidious: Chapter 4, but given that Shaye is the only cast member confirmed to return right now, it seems likely the new film will pick up with a new case in Elise Rainier’s files (likeChapter 3did) rather than continue one of the existing plotlines (likeChapter 2did for the first movie).
Robitel previously worked with Blumhouse on the screenplay forParanormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension. He made his feature directing debut with 2014’sThe Taking of Deborah Logan, which admittedly flew under our radar but which seems to havescooped up some solid reviewson the indie horror circuit.
