Well it seems like deja vu since we are here to discuss about another horror movie this year from director James Wan, with a sequel to his previous success horror story Insidious, now with Insidious: Chapter 2. Entertainment Affair had the chance to sit down and talk with the very busy director, now helming the new Fast and the Furious project, along with screenwriter Leigh Whannell.

Insidious follows the story of a typical American family the Lamberts, portrayed by Patrick Wilson (The Conjuring) as Josh Lambert, Rose Byrne (Damages) as Renai Lambert, Ty Simpkins as their son Dalton Lambert and Barbara Hershey as the grandmother which on the surface seem to be pretty normal but in reality, are haunted by a strange red demon that resides in a spirit world known as the Further. The problem is that both Josh and Dalton Lambert have the ability to travel from our dimension to that of the spirit world and sometimes things follow them back.

For those who know the story, the movie will be a walk in the park but if you haven´t seen the first one better check it out soon before seeing Chapter 2, since according to director James Wan it is a direct continuation of the first. “When Leigh and I decided to come back to this and take on the challenge of doing a number two we felt that the natural story was to do the one that did not finish; where we left off at the end of the first movie and that it was a natural progression for what the second movie storyline could go.”

Chapter 2 appears as if it was preconceived as the first movie was being done, since there are many elements and details explained and portrayed directly from the first, but according to the director, it was not that way. “I never make any movie thinking I´ll go on and make the sequel right, that’s too presumptuous and for me I´m very superstitious, I don´t want to think about number two when number one hasn´t even come out for example.” Yet he did admit having ideas on how to continue the story once the first movie was done. “But when the first one came out and it did really well and there was this appetite for a potential future installment, future storyline that continued the story, we batted around a few ideas and we kept coming back to the idea that well, where we left off at the first one it just seemed like natural organic way for the storyline to continue.”  

In this installment, the Lamberts are trying to put their past behind them, moving to a new home while attempting to rebuild their lives, but some things are not right, specially the way Josh (Patrick Wilson) behaves.  The movie has got some chills and thrills carefully crafted by an expert in the craft of scaring people like James Wan, with movies like Saw and The Conjuring which came out earlier this year scaring audiences nationwide. We talked to Wan about his approach to the horror genre and where he draws some of his inspiration and guidance. “I’m a huge Hitchcock fan I love Polanski as well but I think I´m a much bigger Hitchcock fan. To me I think that’s what makes it fun you know building the suspense you know, I love film crafting. I think there´s a lot of art to crafting these movies whether it’s from a technical stand point or technical backing up your story telling stand point right, I really love that and I find these movies, the Insidious films and The Conjuring as well and even the first Saw allowed to play with that.” Screenwriter Leigh Whannell had a more personal approach when it comes to drawing inspiration for horror films, and he takes it to a more personal level using his own fears as inspiration. “I use all of them, that´s pretty much it; I have a pretty strong irrational focused fear of death, like I´m always thinking about it, even when I look back now at Saw which is a film that was written when I was 23, 24 years old you can just see that whole film was about fear of death and like cancer and all this stuff so it´s been something that I´ve been obsessed with, so it´s pretty much all I use as inspiration.”

But to scare audiences it takes more than just finding a way to portray your fears in a coherent story on screen, it takes a lot of work and a combination of elements that make it an art. “There are ingredients that I think you kind of need to be mindful of I think that to be original, to be creative you need to know all the trappings that come with the genre so that way then you know how to kind of break the rules sort of speak, ” Wan said. It also requires the knowledge of a good technical crew to relay on to realize the vision and fears that run through the director´s mind. “My sound designer knows me so well now that I have many degrees of creaking doors and creaking floor boards, the sound design is such a big part of why I think these movies work I´ve said it time and time again, you may not have the money to give us the visuals right, but if you have a great soundtrack if you have great music and sound design your movie can be so scary.”

According to Wan, who has made several horror movies with a modest budget, the secret behind making a good scary movie does not rely on the greatness of computer effects and marvelous visuals, his approach is much more simple. “I think for the scary movies it is proven time and time again that if you can keep it within the camera work if you can film it and you can frame it I think is so much scarier than just putting a CGI creature in there.” His past successes within the horror genre may be proof of this point but when it comes to Insidious: Chapter 2, the jury is out. We will have to wait and see if it follows up to its predecessor or if it falls short.

Insidious: Chapter 2 opens nationwide on September 13th. Be sure not to miss it.