The Lambert family embarks on their greatest journey into the Further with Insidious: The Red Door. In the franchise’s fifth film, an adult Dalton and his estranged father, Josh, must reconcile and unearth their repressed memories of Further to close the door to the other side once and for all.
Despite premiering with mixed reviews, audiences can agree that Patrick Wilson’s directorial debut makes for a touching and terrifying conclusion for the series (for now). To audiences wishing to see more of Daltons and the Further, these five films should present a similar cinema voyage into the supernatural.
Poltergeist (1982)
Many people have drawn comparisons between Insidious and Poltergeist, with James Wan citing the latter as one of his all-time favorite horror movies. Both films depict an ordinary family tormented by spirits from another realm who target one of the children under the orders of a powerful demon. A psychic investigator also helps both families deal with the paranormal threat in each franchise.
But while the origins of Poltergeist‘s “Beast” was elaborated on in its sequels, the Lipstick Face Demon remains a mystery in the Insidious series, which has kept him consistently terrifying to audiences for five films.
Poltergeist can be rented or purchased on Prime Video and other digital vendors.
Doctor Sleep (2019)
Set decades after his nightmarish getaway in The Shining, the underrated sequel Doctor Sleep focuses on recovering alcoholic Dan Torrance and his quest to protect a child with his powers from a cult of psychics hoping to feed on her energy. Just as Dalton is haunted by the ghosts that once tormented him in Insidious, Dan continues to be stalked by the spirits of the Overlook Hotel, particularly the rotting woman of Room 237.
With their similar stories, these sequels explore how people try to suppress their traumatic past, with Dan literally locking the ghosts of his past away in his mind. While this may work out for him temporarily, just like Dalton, his memories continue to haunt him by manifesting in his substance abuse, showing how some ghosts are never truly dead.
Doctor Sleep can be rented or purchased on Prime Video.
Candyman (2021)
Another follow-up to a horror classic, Nia DaCosta and Nope director Jordan Peele‘s Candyman depicts artist Anthony McCoy when he investigates the story behind the titular boogeyman for his next project, only to inadvertently summon him to shed more blood. With Anthony and Dalton now in their adult years in their respective sequels, audiences follow them when the vengeful specters that once targeted them return to finish what they started, eventually becoming hosts for their ghostly tormentors.
In their dark spirals into the supernatural, each of their stories depicts how people try to bury the dark aspects of their history while trying to find meaning in all the haze and confusion.
Candyman (2021) can be streamed on Prime Video.
The Sixth Sense (1999)
In M. Night Shyamalan‘s breakout hit, child psychologist Malcolm Crowe meets with a young boy struggling to cope with his ability to see and talk to wayward spirits. At the same time, like Josh, Malcolm tries to reconcile with his wife after a deadly encounter with a former patient.
Though most of the spirits Cole encounters aren’t as sinister as the ones Dalton faces, they never cease to instill an incalculable dread whenever they appear. Both films also follow their protagonists as they learn to reconnect with their loved ones following their own traumatic incidents, with Malcolm doing so in one of the most iconic twist endings in cinema history.
The Sixth Sense can be rented or purchased at a variety of digital vendors like Prime Video.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Before there were the Scream movies, there was the original A Nightmare on Elm Street. Wes Craven’s benchmark film introduced a unique breed of monster in Freddy Krueger, who torments the children of Springwood from his fiery domain in the dream world, where he can also kill his prey in the real world with his glove of knives.
With Dalton now in college, The Red Door shows him joining the ranks of adolescent horror heroes like Nancy Thompson as he fights against ruthless slashers to protect himself and his loved ones. A Nightmare of Elm Street also deals with the same theme of children inheriting the issues of their parents, with Krueger seeking revenge on the local adults for killing him in a fit of mob justice.
A Nightmare on Elm Street is streaming on Screambox via Prime Video.
The Black Phone (2022)
Based on a story written by Joe Hill (son of author Stephen King), young Finney Blake gets kidnapped by a serial killer in a demonic mask. While Dalton gets trapped in the Further by the Lipstick Face Demon once more, the Grabber traps Finney in a regular basement with a not-so-regular phone that allows him to speak to the murderer’s previous victims.
And though The Black Phone explores the dark mysteries of the afterlife, it focuses more on Finney trying to escape and triumph over the monsters of the real world, which include vicious school bullies and his abusive father.
The Black Phone is now streaming on Prime Video.
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