You’ve heard of Christmas in July, but what about Halloween in March? Tubi is celebrating spooky season early this year with every major installment of Blumhouse’s haunting “Insidious” series now available to stream for free as of March 1.
When it comes to modern horror franchises worth watching, the “Insidious” series is right up there with “The Walking Dead” and director James Wan’s other horror hit series “The Conjuring” for dependable thrills and scares.
Led by directing and writing super-team Wan and Leigh Whannell, “Insidious” was a sleeper hit when it debuted back in 2011, earning $100 million at the box office on just a $1.5 million budget. It was successful enough to spawn four sequels, three of which — “Insidious: Chapter 2,” “Insidious: Chapter 3,” and “Insidious: The Last Key” — have a new home on one of the best free streaming services. (The most recent entry, “Insidious: The Red Door” remains a Netflix exclusive for now.)
Whether you’re a longtime horror fan or a newcomer dipping their toes in the genre, the “Insidious” movies are a captivating watch that turns the haunted house trope on its head. The deeply human characters, unsettling sound design, and balance of psychological suspense with heart-pounding jump scares make these some of the most compelling horror movies in recent memory.
Here’s everything you need to know about the “Insidious” series, and why it’s definitely worth adding to your watchlist now that it’s streaming for free on Tubi.
What is the ‘Insidious’ series about?
“It’s not the house that’s haunted: It’s your son,” is the tagline for the first “Insidious” movie, and it easily sets the tone for the franchise. Continually innovative and genre-bending, the series invites viewers to imagine a world split into two alternate realities: the one we know, and a sinister realm known as the Further that’s home to tortured spirits of the dead and demonic entities.
For the most part, the two coexist without incident, but when the boundaries between them start to fray, supernatural forces begin to seep into our world to horrifying ends.
The first two “Insidious” films center on the Lambert family. Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne) are desperate to cure their young son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) after he inexplicably falls into a coma. The longer he remains in the coma, the more the family witnesses strange phenomena around their new home.
Thinking their house could be haunted, they call in psychic Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) and her paranormal investigators Specs (Leigh Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Sampson). From her, they learn that their son’s consciousness is trapped in the Further, and the ghosts they’ve been seeing are using this vulnerability to breach the land of the living.
To wake him up and put a stop to the madness, they’ll have to journey into the dark unknown and rescue their son from the mysterious and malevolent force that has its hooks in him.
Following the success of the first film, “Insidious: Chapter 2” expands on the lore of both the Further and the Lambert family to reveal that what happened to their son may be no coincidence. With “Insidious: Chapter 3” and “Insidious: The Last Key,” we split off to follow Elise and her crew through some of her most infamous paranormal cases.
In each installment, the “Insidious” movies build an atmosphere of dread punctuated by visceral jump scares that all come together in a haunted house thrill ride you won’t soon forget. Each builds upon the last with enough new wrinkles, unnerving context, and spine-tingling scares to cement the franchise’s legacy among the GOATs of horror.
While the first two are easily the franchise’s strongest entries, Elise’s battles with the unseen forces still have plenty of shocking twists and turns to keep you interested. Plus it’s a delight to get to see more of Whannell and Sampson, a duo with excellent chemistry as co-workers who can’t stand each other. Their near-constant bickering and one-upmanship add some welcome levity amid the barrage of nightmare fuel.
Stream the ‘Insidious’ series now on Tubi
By bringing the “Insidious” series to its free streaming platform, Tubi’s commitment to offering diverse and accessible content is on full display. Now you can revisit all the scares and thrills of one of the best modern horror franchises without needing to pay for a subscription.
Even if you’ve already seen the “Insidious” movies, its interconnected storytelling makes it a fun series to revisit to catch all the clues and connections you missed the first time around.
It feels like a week doesn’t go by these days without price hikes for the best streaming services making headlines. So we’re always happy to see free alternatives build out their catalogues with more options for what to watch.
Watch the “Insidious” series on Tubi now