The fourth entry of the Insidious franchise — The Last Key — opens this Friday. The latest chapter focuses on medium Elise Rainier, brought to the big screen once again by veteran actress Lin Shaye.
Family has always been at the heart of the Insidious series, and in The Last Key, it’s the Rainiers. The film prologue opens in 1960s New Mexico. Elise, her younger brother, and parents are living in New Mexico. Her father is a guard at the nearby prison, where inmates are locked up and executed for heinous crimes.
Unlocking New Horrors
Elise’s psychic powers manifest, and her father tries to beat them out of her. He fails, and she is lured by the call of a powerful demon in the basement. She inadvertently frees the demon and flees the family home after a tragedy with plans never to return. Jump forward many decades and she is summoned back to the home by a mysterious caller. There, Elise must not only battle supernatural demons but also the demons from her past (read FANDOM’s full Insidious: The Last Key review here).
Writer Leigh Whannell (who also stars in the film as Elise’s sidekick Specs) wanted the story to focus on Elise. For Shaye, going from supporting character to leading lady was a thrill. “I had a little bit of fear,” Shaye told FANDOM. “The responsibility of being number one on the call sheet makes me swallow hard.”
It was the intense — and sometimes disturbing — material that inspired both writer and actor. “You always think about demons in an ‘Insidious’ film,” explained Whannell, who wrote the original and co-wrote the second and third installments. “That got me thinking about metaphorical demons, not just literal ones … maybe something traumatic that happened to us when we were younger or a secret we’re trying to keep from other people.” For Shaye, the abuse plot was “an extremely powerful choice.”
The Franchise’s Future
With many more Elise stories to tell, FANDOM asked Whannell and Shaye what other decades they can explore, and their answers were hilarious. Check out their responses above — could fans see a disco demon?
And, as a bonus, here what inspired director Adam Robitel’s new version of the Further — the purgatory where tortured souls are trapped — below.
Insidious: The Last Key opens Friday, January 5, 2018.
