The Entire ‘Insidious’ Franchise Explained: Every Movie, Prequel, and Spin-Off (2024)

Dating back to 2010, the Insidious franchise has been horrifying and haunting fans with four feature films and a fifth installment coming out July 7. Created by Leigh Whannell, who also wrote films such as Saw and Dead Silence, the first two films were directed by James Wan (Malevolent), with the third directed by Whannell and the fourth by Adam Robitel (The Taking of Deborah Logan). Patrick Wilson will direct the latest installment of the franchise. “Insidious,” by definition, means “proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with harmful effects,” which is precisely the perfect reason to name the franchise, as the demonic entities slowly encroach on the lives of the living throughout each movie.

Between the four existing films, the franchise has raked in over $542 million worldwide on a combined budget of $26.5 million. Let’s break down the cast, plot, and all those fun details about each movie and what to expect from the franchise in the near future.

RELATED: 'Insidious: The Red Door' Phone Number Allows You to Enter The Further if You Dare

Insidious (2010)

Director: James Wan | Release Date: April 1, 2011 | Run Time: 101 minutes | Budget: $1.5 million | Box Office: $100.1 million

Cast: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, Lin Shaye, Ty Simpkins, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Andrew Astor, Brynn and Madison Bowie, Philip Friedman, Joseph Bishara, and J. LaRose First Appearances: Josh Lambert (Wilson), Renai Lambert (Byrne), Dalton Lambert (Simpkins), Elise Ranier (Shaye), Kali Lambert (Bowie), Foster Lambert (Astor), Loraine Lambert (Hershey), Steven “Specs” (Whannell), Tucker (Sampson), The Bride in Black (Friedman), Lipstick-Face Demon (Bishara), and Long-Haired Fiend (LaRose)

Main Evil Entities: The Bride in Black, Lipstick-Face Demon, Long-Haired Fiend

Major Deaths/Victims of The Further: Josh Lambert, Dalton Lambert, Elise Ranier

The first film in the franchise follows the Lambert family as they settle into their newly purchased home. After their eldest son, Dalton experiences a fright and a minor fall in the attic. He slips into a coma the following morning. The doctors at the hospital are clueless as to what could have medically caused this, so they send him home after months of testing. Supernatural occurrences continue, which convinces his mother, Renai, that their new house is haunted.

The Lamberts move, but the supernatural activities follow them, becoming increasingly more pronounced and regular. She consults with psychic Elise Ranier and her paranormal investigator team, Specs, and Tucker, who believe Dalton is the one being haunted, and that no matter where they go, the entities will continue to come for him. Elise believes that Dalton has the ability to astral project his consciousness in his sleep, thinking he is only dreaming. The night he fell into a coma, he sent his consciousness too far and got lost in a realm known as “The Further,” a place filled with the tormented souls of the deceased. As long as his consciousness remains there, his comatose body acts as a beacon for various entities to use as a re-entry vessel into the world of the living.

Upon finding that this ability is hereditary, Josh’s mother, Loraine, admits that Josh exhibited similar behavior as a child (portrayed by Josh Felman). She claimed to see a woman in a black dress appear in old photographs behind young Josh, creeping closer as time passed. Knowing that he is the only one who can astral project his consciousness into The Further to find and retrieve his son, Josh agrees to do so through hypnosis. He can find Dalton, and the two of them battle through the hellish landscape of The Further, encountering horrific demons and entities along the way.

When the both of them awaken, all seems to be right once more, but Elise senses something is off about Josh’s behavior. She questions him as her suspicions grow but isn’t convinced until she snaps a photo of Josh on her phone. The image reveals that the old woman in a black dress who tormented Josh as a child had taken over his body when his consciousness was projected into The Further. “Josh” becomes enraged at this exposure and strangles Elise to death. When Renai discovers her body, she notices the photo of “Josh” that Elise took just before her death, learning the truth of what happened.

Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)

Director: James Wan | Release Date: September 13, 2011 | Run Time: 106 minutes | Budget: $5 million | Box Office: $161.9 million

Cast: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, Lin Shaye, Ty Simpkins, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Andrew Astor, Brynn and Madison Bowie, J. LaRose, Steve Coulter, Hank Harris, Jocelin Donahue, Lindsay Heim, Garrett Ryan, Tom Fitzpatrick, Tyler Griffin, and Danielle Bisutti First Appearances: Young Elise Ranier (Heim), Young Josh (Ryan), Young Loraine (Donahue), Carl (Coulter), Young Carl (Harris), Parker “Marilyn” Crane a.k.a The Bride in Black (Fitzpatrick), Young Parker/Marilyn Crane (Griffin), and Michelle Crane “The Woman in White” (Bisutti)

Main Evil Entities: The Bride in Black, The Woman in White, and Long-Haired Fiend

Major Deaths/Victims of The Further: Parker “Marilyn” Crane, Carl, Long-Haired Fiend, The Woman in White

This film opens up with a flashback to 1986 when a younger Loraine enlists a younger Elise’s help with Josh, who the Bride in Black is haunting. Elise insists on the help of an associate, Carl, to suppress Josh’s memories of astral projection and replace them with altered memories.

In the present day, following the aftermath of Elise’s murder by the possessed Josh, the Lambert family relocates to Loraine’s house. Not long after, Dalton begins to complain of nightmares about a woman in a white dress and Josh’s behavior continues to become more erratic and violent. Specs and Tucker return to help and show Loraine footage from 1986 that depicts adult Josh standing next to his younger self. They also reach out to Elise’s former colleague, Carl, to try to contact Elise for advice.

This leads them to an abandoned hospital where Loraine used to work. Loraine suddenly recalls a patient named Parker Crane, who was admitted to the hospital after an attempt to castrate himself. He later jumps to his death, but Loraine continues to see his ghost walking around the hospital, which leads the Lambert family to the Crane house. There, they discover a secret room of horrors filled with decaying corpses, a black wedding gown, and newspaper clippings that point to Parker Crane as a prominent serial killer. It’s later learned that Parker was severely abused by his mother, Michelle, and forced to dress and act like a girl. Eventually, she would force him to commit the murders, dressed as the Bride in Black.

Armed with this knowledge, Dalton volunteers to venture once more into The Further to find his father and bring him back, as Josh’s physical form has begun to deteriorate. As Dalton and Elise travel to the Crane house in The Further, Josh begins to attack his family in the real world, channeling Parker’s spirit, following orders from his mother, the Woman in White. Once Elise destroys Michelle Crane’s spirit in The Further, Josh stops attacking his family, and the Lambert family can be reunited once more.

At the very end of the movie, Specs and Tucker investigate a new case involving a young girl, Allison, who has mysteriously slipped into a vegetative state. Allison’s younger sister (played by a young Jenna Ortega) can see Elise’s ghost standing behind Specs and Tucker in the doorway. When Elise greets Allison, she hears creaking in the house and looks up in horror at what she sees.

Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015)

Director: Leigh Whannell | Release Date: June 5, 2015 | Run Time: 98 minutes | Budget: $11 million | Box Office: $113 million

Cast: Lin Shaye, Dermot Mulroney, Stefanie Scott, Garrett Ryan, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Hayley Kiyoko, Joseph Bishara, Michael Reid MacKay, Tom Fitzpatrick, Steve Coulter, Phyllis Applegate, Tate Berney, Ashton Moio, and Ele Keats First Appearances: Quinn Brenner (Scott), Sean Brenner (Mulroney), Alex Brenner (Berney), Grace (Applegate), Hector (Moio), Maggie (Kiyoko), Lily Brenner (Keats), and “The Man Who Can’t Breathe” (MacKay)

Main Evil Entities: The Bride in Black, Lipstick-Face Demon, and The Man Who Can’t Breathe

Major Deaths/Victims of The Further: The Man Who Can’t Breathe, Grace

The third installment in the Insidious franchise predates the first film, set in 2007 and three years before the Lambert family’s haunting in the first film. It follows a teenage girl named Quinn, whose mother passed away a year prior. To contact her mother, Lily’s spirit, she consults with retired demonologist Elise Ranier. After she senses a dark entity lurking nearby, Elise pleads with Quinn not to further attempt to contact her mother’s spirit.

Later, Quinn interacts with Grace, a neighboring tenant in her apartment building, where the elderly woman (who is suffering from dementia) makes cryptic statements and observations of some kind of entity that she’s been seeing lately. On her way home from an acting audition for a performing arts school, Quinn sees a shadowy figure waving at her from across the street. She becomes distracted and, as a result, is struck by a car, breaking both of her legs. Now that she’s bedridden, she’s forced to spend her days in her home with her father, Sean, and brother, Alex.

There, she begins to experience supernatural phenomena, including brutal physical attacks by a man wearing an oxygen mask, whom she dubs “The Man Who Can’t Breathe.” She recognizes this man as the mysterious figure who was waving to her on the day of her accident and her father pleads with Elise to do something to help her. Elise is reluctant because she has had several bad encounters with The Bride in Black when she spends any time in the spiritual realm of The Further. Desperate to find answers, Quinn’s brother Alex suggests that they enlist the help of internet-famous paranormal investigators Specs and Tucker. During their initial visit, Quinn becomes possessed by The Man Who Can’t Breathe, breaking her leg casts off and attacking them and her father.

With the assistance of Specs and Tucker, Elise agrees to venture into The Further once more to save Quinn’s soul and end The Man Who Can’t Breathe. She finds him there, disguised as her late husband, trying to convince her to commit suicide so they can reunite. She can reveal his true identity, and the two of them battle, with Elise barely making it out of The Further. After half of Quinn’s soul is left behind, the spirit of Grace approaches her and tells her about a letter her mother left for her to read. Quinn calls out to her mother for help and Lily appears, encouraging her to stand up for herself and defeat The Man Who Can’t Breathe by pulling his oxygen mask off.

Once Quinn returns from The Further, Elise tells her that Lily has some parting words for the family and leaves. Later, Elise’s dog, Warren, barks and growls at something she cannot see, and it is revealed that the Lipstick-Faced Demon is standing behind her in her home. This film marks the formation of the partnership between Elise, Specs, and Tucker as a professional paranormal investigator trio.

Insidious: The Last Key (2018)

Director: Adam Robitel | Release Date: January 5, 2018 | Run Time: 103 minutes | Budget: $10 million | Box Office: $167.9 million

Cast: Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Ava Kolker, Hana Hayes, Spencer Locke, Caitlin Gerard, Bruce Davison, Pierce Pope, Thomas Robie, Aleque Reid, Javier Botet, Joseph Bishara, Kirk Acevedo, Josh Stewart, and Tessa Ferrer First Appearances: Young Elise (Kolker), Teenage Elise (Hayes), Melissa Ranier (Locke), Anna (Reid), Imogen Ranier (Gerard), Christian Ranier (Davison), Young Christian (Pope), Teenage Christian (Robie), Ted Garza (Acevedo), Audrey Ranier (Ferrer), Gerald Ranier (Stewart), Key Face (Botet)

Main Evil Entities: Keyface, Lipstick-Face Demon

Major Deaths/Victims of The Further: Audrey Ranier, Ted Garza, Melissa Ranier, Anna, Gerald Ranier, Key Face

The fourth installment of the Insidious franchise takes place before the first film's events, similar to the third movie, but ties into the storyline directly. Beginning in 1956, it shows young Elise and her brother Christian seeing the ghost of a woman in their bedroom in New Mexico. Christian desperately tries to find the whistle his mother gave him to call her if he ever needed her. Still, her father hears them and punishes Elise with a cane, trying to beat her supernatural ability out of her. After he locks her in the basem*nt, she discovers a red doorway and opens it. The entity behind the door possesses her briefly, and as a result, her mother dies. Years later, teenage Elise flees her home, abandoning her younger brother, Christian.

Years later, after she has combined ranks with Specs and Tucker, she receives a call from Ted Garza, who says he’s been experiencing supernatural phenomena in his home. When she realizes he is living in her childhood home, she takes the case, with Specs and Tucker in tow. Elise finds Christian’s lost whistle, but it vanishes when she sees the ghost of a young woman. She reaches out to her brother, who is still angry with her for abandoning him and shows his daughters, Imogen and Melissa, a photograph of the whistle she found.

Returning to Ted Garza’s home, Elise, Specs, and Tucker discover a hidden room in the basem*nt, revealing a young woman being held captive. Elise learns that the female “ghost” she saw as a child was actually a hostage of her father’s. The Key Face entity has been possessing the male owners of the house and forcing them to kidnap and murder young women throughout the decades, feeding off of their fear and hatred of their captors. After Ted realizes their discovery, he attacks them and is killed by Specs in self-defense.

Christian revisits his childhood home with his daughters, attempting to find the whistle, but Melissa is attacked by Key Face, causing her to fall into a coma. Key Face also attacks Elise as she connects the dots relating to the missing woman and her father (and later Ted Garza), and drags her spirit into The Further. Imogen, who has the same abilities as Elise, ventures into The Further, where she faces off with Key Face, who is keeping Elise and Melissa hostage amongst other stolen souls. Elise finds and blows Christian’s whistle, summoning her mother Audrey’s spirit, who then vanquishes Key Face.

Elise, Melissa, and Imogen open the wrong door as they try to escape, revealing Dalton Lambert. They realize their mistake, but leave the door open as they continue their trek to the realm of the living. After she reunites Christian with his daughters and mends their sibling relationship, Elise receives a phone call from Loraine Lambert, asking for her help after her grandson, Dalton, has fallen into a coma.

Insidious: The Red Door (2023)

Director: Patrick Wilson | Release Date: July 7, 2023 | Run Time: 107 minutes | Budget: ~$10 million | Box Office: TBD Cast: Lin Shaye, Patrick Wilson, Ty Simpkins, Rose Byrne, Andrew Astor, Juliana Davies, Hiam Abbass, Sinclair Daniel, Peter Dager, and Juarqez McClendon

Main Evil Entities: Lipstick Face Demon

The plot for the fifth Insidious film ties back into the original. 10 years after the events of the first movie, Dalton is moving away for college, but shortly after he begins his semester, he begins having terrible nightmares. Josh partially remembers the experience the two of them had in the first two Insidious movies and knows that these nightmares are more than what they seem. The two of them must travel into The Further one last time to put an end to their family’s terror. Insidious: The Red Door comes out on July 7, 2023, hopefully bringing some closure to the Lambert family. You can watch the trailer here.

Thread: An Insidious Tale (TBA)

A new film in the Insidious franchise was revealed in January 2022, with Jeremy Slater (The Umbrella Academy) set to write and direct. The plot has yet to be revealed, but the project is currently being developed and backed by James Wan as a producer. This film will mark Slater’s directorial debut and feature Mandy Moore and Kumail Nanjiani as the lead actors.

Additionally, there have been rumors of a potential crossover between the Insidious franchise and the Sinister universe. Jason Blum, a producer on all five Insidious films, stated in 2018 during a press interview for Insidious: The Last Key that a crossover project was in development, loosely titled “Insinister.”

Stay tuned for updates regarding the latest Insidious movie, potential upcoming spin-offs, and cross-over movies!