The good news about Insidious: Out of the Further, the sixth entry in the hit horror film franchise created by Leigh Whannell and James Wan, is that it deals with a new set of victims. After all, we can all agree that the poor Lambert family has been through enough in the previous installments.

The bad news about the new Insidious movie is that, well, it’s still an Insidious movie. Which means that we have to sit through the spectacle of some unlucky individuals dealing with the Further, that purgatorial netherworld inhabited by demons and the dead that forms the basic mythology of the series.

It’s never a good sign when a horror film stops dead in its tracks to explain things to a main character and, by extension, the audience. But that’s exactly what happens here when the central character Gemma (Amelia Eve, The Haunting of Bly Manor), a single mother with a young daughter, visits Clare (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), a tattoo artist and part-time medium. Clare conjures up the spirit of now-deceased recurring character Elise Rainier (series mainstay Lin Shaye) to explain exactly what the hell is going on with Clare’s mysterious encounters with three ghostly-looking alta kockers who show up at the most inopportune times. By the time the lengthy scene is over, you’ll wish you had been taking notes.

It turns out that Gemma, whose mother died under horrific circumstances when she was a little girl (an incident harrowingly depicted in the opening sequence), is not only someone who has the ability to enter the Further, which is bad enough, but also a “Courier,” meaning that she can transport things from there to the physical world. It’s a rare talent that greatly interests Cyrus (Sam Spruell), a cult-leader entity who very much wants to escape his confines. To that end, he enlists the services of the aforementioned elderly trio, his Acolytes, to move in next door to Gemma and move things along.   

Director-screenwriter Jacob Chase, who has experience with this sort of material thanks to his 2020 horror film Come Play, establishes tension in the opening moments and steadily ratchets it up from there. He certainly knows his way around jump scares, both of the cheap variety (cue the sudden loud noises!) and the more thoughtful kind. His skills are evident in the film’s two most effective sequences — the first involving Gemma venturing into a pillow fort constructed by her daughter Maya (Island Austin, very convincing at looking utterly terrified) that turns into an endless labyrinth featuring demons at every corner.

In the second, Gemma, a dentist by trade, attends to an elderly patient, one of the Acolytes, who clearly has not been paying attention to oral hygiene. The ensuing encounter, probably the most gruesome cinematic dental scene since Marathon Man, will scare you into scheduling a deep cleaning post-haste.  

Otherwise, Insidious: Out of the Further proves routine in its elaborate plot machinations that remind you how tiresome a place the Further can be. There are plenty of Easter egg references to the previous films, including the reappearance of numerous demonic entities and the Red Door that serves as an entranceway to the Further’s various portals.

The most notable carryover, of course, is Shaye’s now iconic character of psychic paranormal investigator Elise, who didn’t let her death in the original 2011 film deter her from appearing in all the follow-ups. She pops up here again to guide Gemma through her travails, carrying a lantern like an otherworld Diogenes and clearly taking no crap from a spectral punk like Cyrus. When Gemma thanks her after being rescued at one point, Elise casually responds, “It’s what I do.”

After a while the film’s sustained creepiness gives way to self-parody, with all the grotesquely made-up performers portraying the demonic figures starting to look like exhausted Comic-Con attendees after a very long weekend. It all mainly serves to indicate that this is a series that has long reached the point of steadily diminishing returns.  

Liev Schreiber will receive the Global Noir Icon Award as an actor and activist at a closing ceremony for the Lakes Noir International Film Festival.

The Sept. 27 gala in Luino, Italy, will also honor BlueCheck Ukraine, a humanitarian organization Schreiber co-founded, and give the Global Noir Visionary Award to Ukrainians in Exile director Janek Ambros.

In addition, the late Hayden Panettiere, who supported BlueCheck Ukraine, will receive a moment of silence at the festival’s Grand Finale Gala ceremony. Lakes Noir will screen the 2024 documentary Ukrainians in Exile, directed by Ambros and executive produced by Schreiber. Panettiere passed away on Aug. 17 at age 36. The circumstances of her death are currently under investigation.

Filmed on the Ukrainian border just weeks into the 2022 conflict, the film is executive produced by Oscar-winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan) and has served as a fundraising vehicle for BlueCheck Ukraine.  

Panettiere will be honored at the Lakes Noir gala for her support of Ukraine, which stemmed in part from a nine-year relationship with Wladimir Klitschko, brother to Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko, with whom she had a daughter, Kaya.

In March 2022, Panettiere founded the charity Hoplon International to offer direct relief and life-saving body armor and medical kits to front-line Ukrainian soldiers. BlueCheck Ukraine was also launched in March 2022 to provide emergency support to populations in Ukraine impacted by the ongoing war with Russia.

The Lakes Noir Film Festival spotlights the “noir” aesthetic, including stylized crime dramas to dark and sobering documentaries.

EXCLUSIVE: Untitled has promoted six to partner: Annie Schmidt, Ashley Josephson, Faisal Kanaan, Harry Lengsfield, Sam Warren, and Scott Metzger.

This group of managers marks Untitled’s first new partner class since becoming part of Initial Group two years ago.

The Untitled Partners said, “Two years into this next chapter for Untitled, we’re excited by what we’re able to accomplish and the opportunities created by bringing our teams under one banner. Annie, Ashley, Faisal, Harry, Sam, and Scott have each played an important role in that progress, not only through the work they do for their clients, but in how they show up for their colleagues and contribute to our culture. They are trusted leaders, generous collaborators, and people we are proud to call partners. They’ve already helped make Untitled what it is today, and we’re excited to have their voices and leadership play an even greater role in what we’re building.”

With Untitled for 12 years, Schmidt has worked across the company’s New York and Los Angeles offices, taking on increasing leadership and strategic responsibility within the talent department, while mentoring the next generation of managers. Prior to Untitled, she spent nearly a decade in PR. She began that journey in 2007, working at ID PR in Los Angeles under mentor BeBe Lerner, before relocating to help grow the firm’s New York presence. A NorCal native, Schmidt got her start interning for producer Michael London during the production of Fox Searchlight’s Sideways before joining Sidney Kimmel Entertainment at its inception in 2004.

Josephson joined Untitled last year after 10 years at Mosaic. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she attended the University of Michigan before moving to New York to begin her career at the William Morris Agency. She quickly rose from assistant to talent agent before continuing at UTA, and then transitioning into management, where she’s continued working to champion women and amplify the voices of historically underrepresented talent.

A former football player at Bentley University who began his career as a Literary Agent Trainee at Paradigm, Kanaan joined Grandview in 2017 as an assistant to co-founder Jeff Silver, rising through the ranks before becoming a manager in 2019. He founded the company’s Manager Trainee Program, and when Grandview became part of Untitled, he continued at the company as a lit manager, further building his roster and taking on a larger role within the department.

A New York native who reps writers and directors working across film, television, and theater, Lengsfield began his career in the mailroom at WME, quickly moving onto a desk in the talent department before transitioning to MP Lit. He moved into management at LBI Entertainment in 2014, and in 2022, joined Grandview, continuing on at Untitled beginning in 2024.

A Los Angeles native and graduate of the University of Miami who reps creator and filmmaker talent across film and television, Warren also joined Grandview in 2022 before becoming part of Untitled. He began his career as an assistant at LBI in 2011 and elevated to manager there.

Based in Untitled’s New York office, Metzger brings decades of experience as a talent rep. He began his career in representation as an assistant at Paradigm, working his way up to become a managing partner and co-head of talent before joining CAA’s Motion Picture Talent Department. He transitioned to management at Untitled in 2024.

Untitled marked the foundational acquisition for Initial Group, the TPG-backed global entertainment company established in 2024. Grandview joined the platform in October 2024, with both companies now operating under the Untitled banner. Initial has since expanded with the acquisition of Silver Tribe Media — now Initial Digital — a strategic investment in music management company Good World Management, and the acquisition of Brookside Artist Management, whose Emily Gerson Saines joined Untitled as a partner.