In a time where profitability for even the biggest movies is still a roll of the dice, there's one vein of gold than remains consistently reliable — low-budget horror. You can make a picture for only a few million dollars, without stars, and even if it doesn't do great business (see something like "Apollo 18"), you'll still make a tidy return on your investment. And if it becomes a phenomenon, like "Paranormal Activity," then, well, it's time to order your platinum-covered limousine.
Australian director/writer duo James Wan and Leigh Whannell have the advantage of having pulled off the trick twice. Their tiny-budgeted serial killer flick "Saw" birthed a franchise that pulled in close to a billion dollar across seven installments, and last year, they pulled off the trick again, with the supernatural chiller "Insidious," which cost a mere $1.5 million, and yet ended up making 65 times that at the worldwide box office since its release last April. So of course, talk has turned to a sequel.
The Hollywood Reporter brings news that Wan, Whannell and producer Jason Blum are all in talks to return for a second installment for the film, which starred Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne as a couple who discover their young son has been possessed by an evil spirit. The first film had a sequel-baiting ending, but there's no word as to whether the original cast will be back; given the increasingly rising stock of both Wilson and Byrne, we imagine they'd want substantial pay raises to return. Whether with them, or with new actors, "2 Insidious 2 Furious," or whatever it ends up being called, will shoot later in the year, and FilmDistrict will again release it in the U.S in 2013.
As a huge horror fan, Insidious was so, so, SO laughably awful.
As a one-off Insidious was great apart from the so-so third act but still pretty good overall. But a sequel? Big mistake! Bad idea!