With the release date of June 5th right around the corner, fans of the Insidious franchise cannot wait for the third chapter in the series to hit theaters. “Insidious: Chapter 3” serves as a prequel to the first two movies and brings back fan favorite, gifted psychic Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye). This time around, the story reveals how Elise reluctantly agrees to use her ability to contact the dead in order to help a teenage girl who has been targeted by a dangerous supernatural entity.
In order to celebrate the release of “Insidious: Chapter 3,” Focus Features have created a haunted house experience like no other. Members of the press were invited to experience this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and wouldn’t you know it, I just happened to be the very first person there. Was there a line of people behind me, anxiously awaiting their chance to step inside the doors of this haunted house of horrors that looked like it came straight out of the movies? Um, no. Then Sally, the studio rep, informed us that several press members had actually cancelled as a result of them being “too scared,” her words.
So all eyes rested on me, as I stood in front of the building, externally smiling as if it were no big deal, internally frowning and wondering if this experience would legitimately frighten me. I love horror films, I’ve been watching them since I was 12 years old and I don’t scare easily. Actually, I don’t seem to scare at all but I thought maybe, just maybe, this undertaking might do the job and since I really liked the first Insidious movie (director James Wan did an excellent job creating a legitimately creepy and ominous atmosphere) I thought if they can recreate at least part of that, then it might just work.
When you look at the ‘house’ that you are about to enter, it doesn’t look too big from the outside but don’t let that fool you, like Dr. Who’s Tardis, there is, surprisingly, quite a bit of room to move about. Having said that however, if you suffer from claustrophobia, you might want to give this one a miss. While there is some room inside, it is pretty confined to long, narrow hallways and extremely tight spaces. As you approach the building, you are greeted by a familiar face, the Bride in Black and if you’ve seen the first two movies then you’ll know exactly who I’m talking about. She genuinely looks happy to see you coming to her abode.
Before you make your way down the first hallway, you are informed that you must find Room #2 and naturally, being haunted, there are plenty of eerie goings on, doors banging, wind blowing, ghouls appearing out of nowhere and then you navigate another long hallway and come across your room. Inside, it is pretty cramped and you must watch a video that will appear in front of you. In short, it tells you that in the next room, you will be subject to virtual and physical scares and surprises at any time. You must wear a cutting-edge Oculus Rift (virtual reality) headset that will allow you to interact with Elise Rainier up to 360 degrees. As you sit across from her in an old, spooky setting, while she is talking to you, make sure to look all around the room, in front, to your sides, even behind you and you will notice some very strange and supernatural occurrences that will affect you directly. This was the best part of the experience for me, actually being able to interact with the film you’re watching from the comfort of your creeky, old chair.
Afterwards, you are prompted to leave the room by a ghostly assistant and make your way down another long-winding hallway before exiting the building. When I stepped outside, I was able to view some of the many random photos that were taken of me making my way around the house and they can send these images to your e-mail address or your social media account. Overall, I enjoyed the experience. Was I frightened? Honestly? No. In a haunted house setting such as this, it all comes down to a matter of timing and you pretty much know what to expect. I’ve been through so many of them in my life that I just have fun with them although to be perfectly honest, I could see where specific moments might frighten those who are easily scared but just keep telling yourself, “It’s only a movie!” Or is it???
The “Insidious – Into The Further 4D Experience” will be in Dallas at the Convention Center as part of the Dallas Comic Con Fan Expo beginning tomorrow, Friday, May 29th through Sunday May 31st and then makes the final part of its journey back to Long Beach Towne Center in California from June 5th thru June 7th.
I interviewed Josh Randall, the “Insidious – Into The Further 4D Experience” Tour Manager and talked to him about his involvement with the project.
- IFC: The “Insidious – Into The Further 4D Experience” was created to promote the release of the new movie coming out June 5th, how many cities have you been to so far?
- JR: It’s going to eventually be an eight-city tour, we built the show in New Orleans, we’ve already hit Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, here we are in Dallas and then we’re actually headed back to Los Angeles after this to hit a couple of other venues.
- IFC: Were you a part of constructing the Insidious Experience?
- JR: No, I’m basically on staff here as as the Tour Manager, executing it from start to finish and I’ve been a part of a lot of the conversations but this was creatively a mix of several different companies, there was Secret Location based out of Canada, they did all the Oculus and Virtual Reality and Blumhouse Productions and Focus Features were a very important part of the creative aspect of all the things that went into it.
- IFC: What sort of feedback have you been receiving in general?
- JR: Great feedback. People love it. Obviously, Oculus is a relatively new technology so a lot of people haven’t had a chance to experience it yet so many of them are sort of riding off the high of how fun it is to go through something like that and to sort of actually experience that new technology but it’s so short, it’s so much fun, all the 4D elements make people scream and laugh and some strangely, run out crying which is hysterical to all involved and it’s a lot of fun, people are really enjoying it.
- IFC: You said that some people have run out crying, are people, for the most part, enjoying it or have you had some genuinely scared folks?
- JR: I mean listen, fear is subjective so any time you work within the horror industry you have to be ready for the first person to run out crying because they’re so scared, the next person to run out laughing because they had such a good time and the third person to run out as if nothing just happened to them because they just don’t care so you get a range of emotions but in general, people are loving it and having a great time and then we actually get many, many, many people that can’t even make it past the lobby and it ends the experience because they’re so scared.
- IFC: For people who haven’t experienced it yet, can they expect to see any footage from the new film?
- JR: No, this is a freestanding project designed to promote the new movie, it has a lot of the characters and some of the plotlines that they are used to so it’s really an audience member’s chance to sort of go into the world of Insidious without actually spoiling or teasing really, the upcoming prequel.
“Insidious: Chapter 3” opens in theater June 5th
