At certain points in Insidious: Out of the Further, a thought presents itself: Wait, where have I seen this ghoul before? Regardless, six films in, the Insidious series has amassed a collection of characters — both alive and dead — that’s substantial enough for cameos from, say, the “Bride in Black” from the first two movies or the “Key Demon” from part four. These are accompanied by an army of spirits, many of whom seem familiar, but that might just be because they all have the same freshly dug-up look.
The overlap is less significant for the living. Save for series star Lin Shaye — whose role in Out of the Further adds up, generously, to about five minutes of screen time — this is a brand-new cast of characters, with brand-new, albeit recognizable, problems. When we first meet Gemma, she’s a young girl trying her best to cope amid her mother’s mounting mental-health issues. A couple of scenes later, Gemma — now played by The Haunting of Bly Manor’s Amelia Eve — is all grown up, and raising a daughter of her own in the same house where her mom (spoiler alert for this film’s prologue) committed suicide all those years earlier.
