‘Insidious’ veteran praises the franchise for not overstaying its welcome

Tomorrow is the day fans of the unlucky Lambert family finally get to see two of their members go through hell and back again, as Insidious: The Red Door opens in theaters across the States. Although there is a new spin-off film planned (Thread: An Insidious Tale, starring Mandy Moore and Kumail Nanjiani), it’s widely believed that this could be the last we see of the Lamberts and other characters we’ve come to know, love, and fear for in the Insidious universe.

One such character is Elise, played by the legendary veteran scream queen Lin Shaye (Nightmare on Elm Street, among countless other iconic appearances). She is set to reprise her role as the medium-turned-ghost in the fifth installment of the horror franchise, which follows Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson) and his son Dalton (Ty Simpkins), joining them ten years after Inisidious: Chapter 2.

Shaye is set to return as a spirit in the eagerly anticipated movie and has been doing plenty of press recently to help promote it. While she has previously stated she thinks Elise has a lot more to give as a character and would be happy to reprise the role, in a recent interview with Screen Rant, the veteran actress admitted that perhaps it was time for the door to shut on certain elements of the franchise.

Speaking to the website, Shaye said:

“I think everything has a beginning, middle and end, ultimately. I think sometimes, especially in storytelling, it’s enough already, as they say, because I know we’ve all seen shows that we went, ‘Oh my god, they’re still [going]?’ There’s especially series that get like that, ‘Isn’t that over already? Is this done already?'”

This is a familiar feeling for movie-goers, who have been bombarded with sequels and follow-ups and spin-offs from all angles for years now, most of which are kind of awful. Insidious, however, still has plenty of dedicated fans, so ending on a high would be a nice way to sign off the franchise, something Shaye said she’d love to see happen:

“I think it’s very savvy to be a creator and know when it’s good to have an ending, and I think this was a really wonderful — it doesn’t mean the world of Insidious is necessarily over, but it does mean that particular story has a beginning, middle and end now, and I applaud it. I think it’s a wonderful script, and a wonderful story.”

While it’s easy enough to say this, producers and film company executives might have another opinion, especially if Red Door does as well at the box office as it seems like it will. Given there’s been half a decade between this installment and the previous one, hype has been very real for the newest addition to the series. The fact that it’s also Patrick Wilson’s directorial debut and contains a number of the original cast is also a huge draw to fans.

All in all, it seems the Lamberts might finally be getting some peace after years of torment, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the (red) door is shut on new projects. And, hopefully, we’ll see Shaye in them too.