An improvement on James Wan’s dismal Chapter 2, this derivative yet efficient prequel finds series writer/actor Leigh Whannell stepping into the director’s chair for more mechanical quiet-quiet-BOO shocks. Reliable Lin Shaye is the film’s strongest asset, and has fun as creepy/kooky psychic Elise Rainier, called in to help Dermot Mulroney’s widowed father rescue his daughter (Stefanie Scott) from evil. As before, it’s a shameless mash-up of Poltergeist, Amityville etc, with added cattle-prod jumps. Whannell does achieve the occasional visual shiver, but for the most part it’s just things going BUMP in the night – very loudly.
