Insidious has remained one of the scariest films of all time. With beautifully timed jump scares, unwavering tension, and an authentic rebarbative atmosphere, Insidious was based on the unabated principle to terrify its viewers. While it's often natural to immerse one's self in the realm of the slasher and get a few quick thrills here and there, films like Insidious have reminded us of the art of building up your characters within the horror experience. When something genuinely terrifying happens to them, one feels the impact outside the bounds of quick cutthroat gore.
But there is more to Insidious than its finely tuned atmosphere James Wan has crafted, but a demon far more sinister that exists in between the limits of Heaven, Earth, and Hell. With the fifth installment coming July 7th of this year, who is the terrifying main antagonist that has frightened many since its inception in 2010?
Who is The Red Demon?
Despite the low budget it took to make Insidious, the film would not only do well at the box office but would endure as one of the most critically-acclaimed horror franchises in the genre. Contributing to the revival of supernatural horror, Insidious tells the story of a family named the Lamberts, who try to rescue their comatose son from the grasp of a malevolent demon.
With its strong grip on the senses from beginning to end and its ability to encapsulate space, time, and even death, Insidious is a film experience that radiates enduring confidence. It has succeeded in transcending its narrative into its characters through a sea of time, leaving behind a rich and detailed universe in its wake. Throughout its intricate universe, one factor remains constant, The Red Demon.
With many horror films, death is typically an alarming signal of things ending. However, for Insidious, the terrifying concept of death marks only the beginning of a sinister force starting to take form, unlocking a door through a tenebrous supernatural dimension more unnerving than hell itself. While it is not clear the exact origins of where the demon first appeared, he was created as an angel to serve god. When he rebelled against such orders, he was cast out of heaven, along with any other demons who opposed him. While it is customary for these demonic entities to be sent to Hell after such deeds, "The Man With Fire in His Face" was sent to The Further, a dark space that exists between Heaven, Earth, and Hell.
How does The Red-Faced Demon relate to Dalton Lambert?
Normally, one does not enter other realms voluntarily, and other entities with malicious intent or not enter our world. This premise is challenged in Insidious, in which a person's body is not possessed by another entity, but their soul is transported to another dimension entirely. The Red Demon not only has the power to step into this world but also has the power to transport souls into The Further. In Insidious, Dalton's father is the one who has to save his son from this. While his wife handled many of their problems throughout the film, Josh Lambert now has to step up and help his son out of what first looks like a comatose state. But something more going on with his son than the film lets on at first.
While Insidious gives way to an age-old story of a haunted house, the film effortlessly ties in the inherent world of family drama, ancestry, and a world beyond that through the use of astral projection. Through psychic Elise Rainer and her paranormal investigators, Specs and Tucker, she reveals that their son Dalton is not in a comatose state. Dalton was born with the ability to astral-project to other realms that exist beyond the 3-D. Seeing them as nothing more than dreams, Dalton travels to these other worlds, only this time he has wandered too far, with The Red-Faced Demon using this to its advantage to steal his soul, trapping it within spiritual limbo by way of The Further.
This particular piece of information is significant as the plot of Insidious: Fear of The Dark takes place after the events of Insidious: Chapter 2. Set ten years after the end of the previous first two films, father Josh Lambert heads east to drop his son Dalton off at university. However, Dalton’s college dream becomes a nightmare when the repressed demons of his past suddenly return to haunt them both. The concept of The Red Faced Demon and other entities associated with The Further praying on those with special abilities runs extensively throughout the Insidious franchise, with the extensive question that resides throughout the franchise: How much power does the supernatural have on the real world?
Is the Red Demon defeated at the end of Insidious?
Dalton being born with the ability to astral project opens the gate of discussion to ancestry and where the ability to do such things first started. Because of this, Dalton's father plays more of a factor in his son's gift than he knows.
In many horror films that deal with this possession, such as that of the film, The Exorcist, the demon takes possession of 12-year-old Regan MacNeil while the family tries relentlessly throughout the film to expel the demon from within her. With Insidious, the narrative goes further than a father wanting to save his son from the evil clasps of a high-ranked demonic entity. What is happening draws back to Josh Lambert and his bloodline, something that can't just be vanquished by just eliminating demons.
While Dalton is still a child, unaware of his abilities to transport to other realms, part of the story begins with Josh Lambert. Elise suppressed his abilities when he was eight years old in order to protect him from another malevolent force in the form of an elderly woman.
To save his son, Josh has reawakened abilities that Elise had purposefully dormant. While he saves Dalton, reawakening his abilities comes at a high cost. The ability to reconnect with an evil spirit from his past was reopened when the channels to astral-project were reopened.
Dalton is in a similar situation. Because he inherited these abilities from his father, The Demon is simply using the ability to astral project as a portal to the 3D, and thus he can never be defeated as long as those lines of communication between the astral projector and the demon remain attached and open, even if the abilities are suppressed. While how The Further works are not discussed until much later in the franchise, the deceased and the living with astral projecting abilities have a significant impact on what happens moving forward.
While Dalton's problems began with Josh's inherited abilities, the problems stemmed from the person who first put Josh's ability to rest. While her battle with the supernatural world culminates with her death, it began long before Insidious. The origin of the terror is not with Josh but started with Elise's past. In many ways, Insidious is all about deeply rooted trauma and how the choices of others affect the many down the line. This is reflected in the concept of The Red Demon and The Further, a factor that will play a role in the upcoming fifth installment of Insidious: Fear The Dark.