Insidious: The Last Key
Universal Pictures | Release Date: January 5, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
17
Negative:
2
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeJan 3, 2018
Hardcore horror audiences won’t find much that’s frightening in Insidious: The Last Key — there’s not even that wonderfully unsettling shriek of violins under the title this time — but as a delivery system for more great work from Lin Shaye, it more than accomplishes its mission. Read full review
65
Paste MagazineOktay Ege Kozak Jan 18, 2018
Insidious: The Last Key certainly doesn’t rewrite the rules of the genre, but it’s a solid entry in a franchise I thought would have run out of steam by now, and you can certainly do a lot worse when it comes to an early January release. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsJan 5, 2018
Really, whatever you do, don't watch "The Last Key" without the emotional support of a buddy who can confirm that you're not just imagining this: these movies are still getting incrementally better. Read full review
63
IGNWilliam BibbianiJan 3, 2018
Insidious: The Last Key may be somewhat engaging but it’s also sloppy and doesn’t amount to much. Read full review
60
Screen DailyTim GriersonJan 3, 2018
The fourth installment of the Insidious series has deft scares and some nifty twists, all of which don’t entirely distract from how strangely inconsequential The Last Key ultimately feels. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJan 3, 2018
Hard-core fans get the loud noises they came for, but true fear vaporizes. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJan 3, 2018
A workmanlike but fan-pleasing picture. Read full review
58
IndieWireEric KohnJan 3, 2018
With Shaye’s performance as its anchor, the movie is often a perceptive character study, at least until it’s hijacked by the same bland trickery that so often fogs up horror movies with more to offer. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovJan 10, 2018
By turns entertaining, incomprehensible, goofy, and even on occasion unnerving. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaJan 5, 2018
There is a real chance that one might be too busy trying to piece it all together to notice the jump scares, the film’s prime mode of horror-stirring. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJan 4, 2018
There’s ample evidence that the producers (and writer/actor Leigh Whannell) are milking a familiar title for all it’s worth – of the four Insidious films, only one has been any good and, although The Last Key may not be the worst of them, it’s easily the most irrelevant and generic. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesBrent McKnightJan 4, 2018
n the hands of director Adam Robitel, The Last Key hits all the haunted house markers. Lights flicker, flashlights die at inopportune moments, floors creak, and shadowy figures scuttle across the background. But mood is all the film has going for it. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJan 4, 2018
Director Adam Robitel knows how to scare us with the classic, sudden-appearance-of-a-scary-thing-accompanied-by-a-loud-music-sting trick, which of course has been utilized a thousand times in hundreds of movies. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaJan 4, 2018
It's not a total wash. Shaye's performance is reliably good and the sequences set in The Further (the netherworld of the "Insidious" films) have a kicky charge. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJan 4, 2018
With the exception of one clever twist at the midway point, what transpires here is thin, vaporous and awfully derivative. But my goodness, how Shaye holds you, even through the most routine of jolts and the most ludicrous of circumstances. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisJan 4, 2018
In the end, it’s left to Shaye to carry the film, and she does so with aplomb. The “Insidious” franchise may be running out of places to go, but Shaye appears to be just getting started. Read full review
50
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoJan 4, 2018
Though not a terrible film, Insidious: The Last Key fails to live up to the franchise's high standards. Read full review
50
ConsequenceRandall ColburnJan 4, 2018
Robitel and Whannel are still too bound to the franchise here to make something truly original, but The Last Key will make you grip your armrest, squint your eyes, and prepare for the worst. Sometimes, that’s enough. Read full review
50
VarietyAndrew BarkerJan 3, 2018
Despite the indomitable Shaye’s best efforts, however, new director Adam Robitel is rarely successful in shaking the cobwebs off this increasingly creaky franchise: The Last Key is wildly uneven, confused and confusing, and it appears to leave the “Insidious” saga written into a corner yet again. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyJan 4, 2018
A clumsy and internally confused sequel to Insidious: Chapter 3 (which was, uh, a prequel to the first film) that offers strictly mechanical jolts. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyJan 4, 2018
Aside from one gag in particular, the scares lack any real mechanical knack. The one thing the otherwise forgettable film has going for it is Shaye, who over the course of the Insidious quadrilogy has miraculously created a real flesh-and-blood character with Elise. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreJan 5, 2018
A movie that has no right to the touching finale Whannell cooks up, a nice payoff to a movie that isn’t really worth sitting through to reach that payoff. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineHenry StewartJan 4, 2018
The fourth film in the Insidious franchise, directed by Adam Robitel, is lazy and sometimes even loathsome. Read full review
More From This Movie

49 Critic Reviews

5.4 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL