Death is not the end in the Insidious series.
That is how Lin Shaye appears in every single movie, despite her character having been killed off in the first one. Six movies in, I absolutely love how interwoven Shaye has become as Elise. A benevolent medium in life; now a benevolent spirit in the afterlife.
I saw the most recent entry, Insidious: Out of the Further (2026), and seeing Elise back as the defender against evil supernatural forces made me realize the unique horror character she has become. It’s because of her that I keep watching Insidious and overlook the flaws in later installments.
But what is it about Elise that makes her stand out?
Bring in the Expert
‘Insidious’ (2010)Credit: FilmDistrict
There is a bait-and-switch during Insidious (2010) when the initial haunted house premise is upended, and the person with the answers is an older woman.
The medium Elise Rainier carries warmth and eccentric charm into the Lambert home until she becomes deadly serious about the situation. She reveals the family’s young son is stuck in a mysterious coma because the boy’s ability to astral project has gotten him trapped in the supernatural world referred to as “the Further.”
Because of this, she tells them, “—it’s not the house that’s haunted. It’s your son.” The foreboding weight that Shaye puts into her delivery makes it a memorable line in a memorable portrayal of the “expert on the supernatural,” a character trope we have seen before in similar movies (Zelda Rubenstein as the commanding, tiny psychic in Poltergeist (1982) is one of my favorites).
What helps Elise avoid becoming a copy-and-paste version of what has already been done are the little, weird details. She is dressed in an unassuming blue sweater and scarf, yet she then puts on a gas mask to get into the proper headspace to contact spirits. In her first appearance, Elise is really on screen to give exposition and to be killed in a twist ending.
Death Is Not the End
‘Insidious: Chapter 2’ (2013)Credit: FilmDistrict
Elise’s kindness, which becomes a defining trait of hers, is why she helps the Lamberts. And it becomes a double-edged sword. She realizes the father, played by Patrick Wilson, has become possessed by the Bride in Black (Philip Friedman), and he strangles her to death. The sudden, cruel act leaves us with the grotesque image of Elise’s face frozen in her last effort to breathe. But in a movie where the paranormal exists, she is not gone for long.
In Chapter 2 (2013), she returns as a spirit in the Further who helps Josh get back into his human body. It subverts expectations when, in other supernatural horror movies, characters who die brutal deaths become darker versions of themselves. That’s not what happens to Elise. As a ghost, she becomes more powerful in warding off nefarious spirits, while maintaining her kindness.
That foreshadowed the direction the series was going to take with Elise. Her becoming a lead is one of my favorite reworkings that a horror franchise has done to figure out how to make another installment.
A Horror Star
Lin Shaye didn’t get her first horror role with 2010’s Insidious. She was in Alone in the Dark (1982), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Critters (1986), Dead End (2003), and 2001 Maniacs (2005). She was in many of the sequels to these movies, plus other horror credits, which has given her the moniker, “Godmother of Horror.”
‘Insidious: The Last Key’ (2018)Credit: Universal Pictures
But the Insidious franchise is what she is widely known for, with Chapter 3 (2015) and The Last Key (2018) invested in learning who Elise is. “If we're not focusing on the Lambert family, what makes it an Insidious movie?” This was what Leigh Whannell, the director/writer of Chapter 3, had to think about.
Without bringing the family back, he looked to Elise when making the third installment. “If we hadn't have killed her off in the first movie,” he said in an interview, “this probably wouldn't be a prequel.”
Ghost Adventures
‘Insidious: The Last Key’ (2018)Credit: Universal Pictures
Chapter 3 and The Last Key can be bumpy rides to sit through when they spend too much time on new characters who didn’t grab my attention. I was more interested in watching Shaye portray the anger and sadness as she grieves for her late husband, struggles with her own mortality, and faces the lasting impact of a terrible childhood.
Her helpers, Specs (Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Sampson), offer a different side of the medium as they form a found family. Along with these scenes of her personal life, we get to see her combating the spirits and demons of the Further. No longer is Elise simply limited to the “expert on the supernatural” trope; she becomes a well-rounded character with an active role in the plot.
Watching all of this, I was hoping the movies would catch up to the present day to explore how post-death Elise could bring another layer to her evolution. Although her screen time gets relegated to a cameo in The Red Door (2023), she does get a bigger role in Out of the Further. Move aside, Casper, we have “Elise the Friendly Ghost.”
From Beyond the Grave
‘Insidious: Out of the Further’ (2026)Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing
Elise comes to the rescue of Gemma (Amelia Eve), the new main character in the sixth movie. Specs and Tucker don’t reappear, but there is another partner in tattoo artist Clare (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) to help Elise communicate with the living. What starts out promising doesn’t reach its full potential.
I almost thought the movie was setting up Elise’s return from the dead. Gemma has the ability to pull entities from the spirit world and into the living. It was the perfect excuse to pluck Elise out, but it never happens. She hangs back in the Further, not letting death stop her from being a protector.
My issue with that is that Out of the Further never bothers to wonder what kind of existence sticking around as a ghost is for her. With how anchored the prequels were to her, it stands to reason that her afterlife can have story potential as well (staying in the Further can’t exactly be a cozy paradise). Maybe the seventh installment will have these answers.
Are there other horror characters that surprised you with where the movies took them?
