Insidious
I just watched this film.
Many modern horror films go for the gross out. Usually this involves buckets of blood and/or torture. I don't often like those sorts of films. So it was surprising that the creators of Saw could also make a throwback horror film like Insidious, which is full of such cliched but still effective moves like jump cuts, wide shots from above, creepy sounds in the dark and being alone in a dark house and thinking you saw something move. Really one of the most frightening things is to be alone or to lose control. When you go to sleep at night what are the noises that you hear? Is it just the house settling? If you dream is that just as real as what's going on during your waking hours? Insidious uses these fears quite well for the first 2/3rds of the film. It also gives a nod to classic horror themes explored in HP Lovecraft's The DreamQuest of Unknown Kaddath.

A writer/musician and her school teacher husband move into a really nice and older appearing home. They have three kids, two boys and a girl. They are still in the process of unpacking but the wife notices that some things are either lost or are moved from where she put them. She gradually comes to have more of a sense of unease with this house. Her husband ignores her feelings but he's having strange blackouts of his own. And their oldest son seems to be the most changed by the house.

After a few paranormal events which even her husband can't ignore the family flees the house. But that doesn't end the issues. Good stuff. It's a lost art of making you jump or look over your shoulder in horror films and this film shows that some people still have it. The last third of the film ups the ante quite a bit with regard to special effects and such. It loses a little of the dread that the first portion of the film had. B movie star Lin Shaye also appears as a paranormal investigator.