Insidious: Chapter 3
Focus Features | Release Date: June 5, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
13
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The New York TimesAndy WebsterJun 4, 2015
Ms. Shaye gives Insidious more than sufficient reason for a Chapter 4. Read full review
80
The TelegraphTim RobeyJun 4, 2015
It manages the all-important jump scares with the finesse of a skilled stage illusionist, but it’s the surprisingly sincere emotional core that makes it the pick of the series. Read full review
78
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeJun 4, 2015
As a vehicle for Shaye, a veteran character actress getting the most screen time she’s ever been given, it’s a blast to watch her anchor this atmospheric look at the personal costs and triumphs of devoting your life to duking it out with nasty presences from the other side. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireJun 5, 2015
It wants to scare the hell out of you, and it does that quite effectively with several serious jumps. About a half-dozen times, I’d say, Whannell creates moments that are legitimately surprising and frightening because he uses silence so well in contrast. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinJun 4, 2015
It stands well on its own as a jumpy spookfest. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweJun 4, 2015
Insidious co-creator Leigh Whannell’s economical script vividly reimagines Elise’s motivations for using her “gift” to aid the demon-afflicted while providing a clearer plotline that avoids many of the convoluted indulgences of the first and second episodes. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeJun 4, 2015
The motif of grief runs throughout Insidious: Chapter 3, which is surprisingly thematically rich for the third installment of a horror franchise. This emotional undercurrent informs the fright scenes, which otherwise lean rather heavily on jump scares. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 5, 2015
They say the third time's the charm. Not with the Insidious series, it isn't. Admittedly, installment #3 is an improvement over #2, but it fails to reach the highs of the chilling-but-uneven original. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 4, 2015
Whatever else Whannell, making his directing debut, manages in this third chapter of this soon-to-be-beaten-to-death series, casting Shaye and giving the actress who dates back to the original “A Nightmare on Elm Street” her due pays off. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicKerry LengelJun 6, 2015
Insidious: Chapter 3 is almost more a spoof of a classic like "The Exorcist" than it is an homage. It's not scary horror, it's silly horror, and the audience is in on the joke. Read full review
60
CineVueMartyn ConterioJun 4, 2015
Insidious: Chapter 3 is unquestionably lightweight material and really all down to the pleasures of ghost train frolics, but such are the uncomplicated joys of the horror movie. Read full review
60
The DissolveKeith PhippsJun 4, 2015
Its pleasures are familiar and its frightening bits less frightening than before, but Insidious: Chapter 3 still does right by a series that’s served as proof that, in horror, less can be more. Read full review
60
EmpireOwen WilliamsJun 4, 2015
Once again combining a sense of genuine dread with a mischievous vein of humour, Insidious Chapter 3 successfully closes the trilogy with its beginning. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsKatherine PushkarJun 4, 2015
You jump out of your skin the first few times the skeleton pops out at you. By the end of the ride, you’ve gotten a good look and it’s not so much scary as hokey. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyKyle AndersonJun 4, 2015
Insidious Chapter 3 is the worst kind of sequel: Not terrible, but also cartoonishly unnecessary. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenJun 10, 2015
You have a horror movie with two strong female leads – no small thing. The movie, however, has little else going for it. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJun 5, 2015
This is so often the problem with this genre — scary setups, followed by dopey resolutions — that you sort of want to give the movie a pass. But given its distinguished forebears, Insidious: Chapter 3 doesn’t quite live up to expectations. Read full review
50
The PlaylistKimber MyersJun 4, 2015
The first two films faltered in their final act, and Chapter 3 experiences some of that as well, though it never achieves their heights. There are some nice scares, but a few formerly central characters are basically forgotten in favor of wrapping things up. Read full review
50
HitfixDrew McWeenyJun 4, 2015
There's nothing particularly wrong with the ghost story itself. It makes sense, there's an internal logic to the way things happen, and Whannell does his best to keep a certain pace up so there are near-constant ghost attacks punctuated by scenes of the characters trying to figure out how to handle them. Quinn's just not a very interesting character. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezJun 3, 2015
In lieu of advancing a view of the dead's dominion that doesn't abide by the law of "just becauses," Chapter 3 is often content to wink at the ways the first two films spooked audiences. Read full review
40
Time Out LondonCath ClarkeJun 4, 2015
It's silly rather than scary, more insipid than insidious. Read full review
40
VarietyScott FoundasJun 4, 2015
Whereas Wan (who retains a producer credit here, and makes a cameo appearance) is the sort of director who can effortlessly turn a billowing curtain or creaking floorboard into an unbearable portent of dread, Whannell rarely makes the neck hairs quiver, let alone stand at attention. Read full review
38
Boston GlobePeter KeoughJun 4, 2015
There’s no end in sight, and that’s what’s really insidious. Read full review
37
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJun 4, 2015
The “Insidious” franchise, after three attempts to exorcise its real demons, still can’t seem to shake what really haunts it: the ghost of B-movies past. Read full review
30
Village VoiceSimon AbramsJun 4, 2015
Tepid ghost story Insidious: Chapter 3 tries and fails to emphasize character-driven drama over cheap, jump-scare-intensive thrills. Read full review
0
San Francisco ChronicleMichael OrdonaJun 4, 2015
Insidious: Chapter 3 is simply not scary. Not a bit, not a whit. Except that the audience will be terrified of the next stabbing of their eardrums, at generally predictable intervals. Read full review
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