BJ: Institutional Context - Insidious (Wan, 2010)

Insidious is a 2010 American supernatural horror film directed by James Wan, written by Leigh Whannell, and starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne and Barbara Hershey. It is the first installment in the Insidious film series. The story centers on a couple whose son inexplicably enters a comatose state and becomes a vessel for ghosts in an astral dimension. The film was released in theaters on April 1, 2011, and was FilmDistrict's first theatrical release.

Production

Principal photography for Insidious was completed over the course of three weeks in 2010, from late April to mid-May at the historic Herald Examiner Building in downtown Los Angeles. In regards to the shorter shooting schedule, actor Patrick Wilson explained, "We had long days and a lot of pages a day, and we didn’t get a lot of coverage or rehearsal. But luckily, the benefit of doing a movie that’s not on a big budget—and the reason it’s usually done like that—is so if the filmmakers feel like, ‘OK, we’re not going to sacrifice anything on screen,’ which I don’t think they have, it lets them have complete control. So we were in good hands."

Insidious Promotional Poster

The musical score to Insidious was composed by Joseph Bishara, who also appears in the film as the demon. Performed with a quartet and a piano, the majority of the score was improvised and structured in the editing process, although some recording sessions began prior to filming. On describing the film's soundtrack, director James Wan explained, "We wanted a lot of the scare sequences to play really silent. But, what I like to do with the soundtrack is set you on edge with a really loud, sort of like, atonal scratchy violin score, mixing with some really weird piano bangs and take that away and all of a sudden, you’re like, 'What just happened there?'"

The film opened with $13,271,464, making it #3 at the domestic box office behind Hop and Source Code. It has since grossed a total of $54,009,150 domestically and $43,000,000 internationally, for a total of $97,009,150 worldwide. Insidious was the most profitable film of 2011.

Distribution

The first teaser for the film Insidious was released on September 14 2010. A few weeks later a promotional poster was released giving audiences an idea of what the film would be like. The poster was released by production company IM Global. The first full length trailer for the film was released by FilmDistrict on January 22 2011, and the trailer was available to watch on Blastr a few days later. Insidious was premiered at the Midnight Madness program at the Toronto Film Festival, and was quickly noticed by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions, who later picked it up for theatrical distribution. On December 29, 2010, it was announced that the film would be released theatrically on April 1, 2011 by the then-relatively new film company FilmDistrict. The film was also screened at South by Southwest in mid-March 2011. Insidious was released on DVD on July 12 2011. The film was released through Sony Pictures Entertainment. The Blu-ray bonus content includes three featurettes: Horror 101: The Exclusive Seminar, On Set With Insidious, and Insidious Entities