Adam Robitel (The Taking of Deborah Logan) takes over the directorial reins of the Insidious franchise with the latest installment, Insidious: The Last Key, which is now playing. Robitel recently sat down for a one-on-one interview with IGN about making the film.
Be advised the following chat does involve SPOILERS for Insidious: The Last Key!
IGN: I want to know about how this came your way. Was this all set to go, Leigh [Whannell, the franchise's co-creator and co-star] had a screenplay and was looking for a director? Or did you pitch it?
Adam Robitel: I knew [Insidious co-creator] James Wan socially, through [Insidious actress] Lin Shaye actually. We had been to a bunch of different events and parties and James was really, really supportive of my first film and gave me a lot of advice. And I had known Lin, had been in a couple of horror films as an actor with Lin. So there was that, and James really responded to my first film and was very sweet about it in the press and very supportive. So when Leigh decided he was not going to director Chapter 4, my name was on a shortlist, so naturally I jumped at the opportunity and really went in super prepared. I had a bunch of multi visual presentations and animated storyboards. I had read an earlier draft and went in with an idea for an entity, because a lot of the first draft was this idea of… there are spoilers, is that okay?
IGN: It’s your call. We’ll give a spoiler warning if necessary.
Robitel: Okay, a lot of the motifs of locks and keys and an abusive father who had worked in the prison, and I said we need a really iconic demon for this film. So much of Insidious to me is the red-faced, lipstick demon. So from that I pitched this other entity and had some concept art, so between the presentation and the lookbook, and this idea for this entity, I think that they really dug it. And then I had to meet with Jason Blum, of course, so I was vetted and vetted and vetted and ultimately, with James and Leigh’s blessing, got the job.
IGN: So the idea for the monster with keys for fingers was your idea?
Robitel: Yeah, it was initially. I had done some early concept art with a friend named Jacob Hare and I wanted something that was iconic and that represented the themes of the movie. This idea of locks and keys, and the idea of a secret within us, and also just the relationship between the abusive father [and Elise]. To me it’s always interesting when, it’s like your parents not only press your buttons, they install them. So this idea was really interesting and I wanted a demon that could physicalize that idea, thematically.
IGN: I thought it was interesting that you have a father who works at a prison, and when we think of prison we think of locked doors. The keys fit in visually. But I also thought it was interesting that we never go inside the prison, even though it’s next door.
Robitel: Right.
IGN: Was there ever a scene, or a temptation…?
Robitel: I think, obviously, you’re working within parameters and certain restrictions, budgetarily. I think I would have loved to. My visual effects guy, Jamison [Scott Goei], I had him go to Eastern State Penitentiary, which is this incredibly gothic prison in Pennsylvania, and that was the jumping off point for the aesthetic of the prison. I would have loved to have gone into a massive prison and had a whole scene there. It just wasn’t going to be in the cards for us, I think, in terms of logistically.
IGN: We were introduced to Elise, then we saw the further adventures of Elise after she died, and we’ve been in prequel territory for two films now. As a filmmaker you’re working within parameters that we’ve already seen. We already know where the characters end up. What interests you about that, and what sort of problems does that create?
Robitel: It’s very difficult. I think any time you have a prequel in a horror film, you’re sort of cut off at the knees in terms of tension, because you know - at least off-camera - that these people are going to survive. So for me, I always start with “Does this story need to be told, and is it compelling enough?” If you took the genre stuff out of it, is it compelling enough? And for me, going back to my first film, The Taking of Deborah Logan, I love the idea of a movie couched around an older female lead. And for Lin, who is so beloved, Elise’s character is so beloved, to have an origin story that talks about how she came to be, where she got power, how her father saw her as The Other and feared her because he’s a god-fearing man, and she seemed to have this ability, this witchcraft to him. To me, all those things suggest a reason, a raison d’être, a reason to be, a reason to make the movie. In terms of timing I think it was just about bringing the franchise full circle, and this does a good job of a handoff from 3, and now we’re back up to current day. At least, 2008 current day [the time period of the original Insidious].
IGN: One of the things you do in the film is you put some of the pieces together. You see how Specs and Tucker get their traveling salesman attire.
Robitel: Right.
IGN: I noticed in the basement there were some gas masks, and I thought maybe we were going to see the origin of how they do seances, [as we saw in] in the first Insidious. Was that just a callback? Was that a coincidence?
Robitel: No… look, gas masks, the iconography of the fallout shelter, I think it was ultimately Tucker gets the idea to build the strange device that they use in Part 1 from this event, is something we would say off-camera. But sure, I’m sure he was inspired by the things he saw.
IGN: Did you talk about how many adventures they may have had since the events of the previous Insidious, or between the events of this film and the next Insidious [the first film to be released]?
Robitel: Right. In my mind, and in Leigh’s mind, I think it’s been a couple months since Part 3 and they’ve just moved in [together]. Whether or not they’ve had other little, smaller cases… probably. He’s referencing church footage in an earlier part of the movie. So they’ve probably gone on a couple of little fake cases, or cases that proved out to be crazy people. So the idea was they were having these sort of growing pains of being a newly formed roommate situation. Specs and Tucker are not exactly the cleanest dudes on the planet and Elise is set in her ways. But there was never a real, substantive conversation about how many actual cases. I think this is the first real phone call they get [since Insidious: Chapter 3]. There’s a deleted scene where Specs had just created the phone number for her, so literally the phone number just went live on the website, and then the phone rings.
IGN: So you have Leigh Whannell on the set at the same time. He didn’t want to direct it but he does have time to co-star. And he just directed the last installment. What sort of relationship do you have with him? Is he completely letting you off on your own, or…?
Robitel: He was super cool and super gracious and really gave me my space. He’s very collaborative. Look, he’s a brilliant guy in the genre space and I constantly had him at the monitor, “What do you think? Is this right?” Because when you step into a franchise you always ask the question, is this fulfilling the promise to the fans? Is this what an Insidious movie should be?
IGN: Was there ever a moment when he said, “This is not an Insidious thing?”
Robitel: There was a couple of pitches that I had that probably went more Conjuring, or a little too… The thing with Insidious is, [it] is ultimately more fun. There is humor. It’s an answer to the nihilism of a traditional horror film. There’s moments that let out the steam. There’s a Scooby-Doo/Laurel and Hardy quality of Specs and Tucker, and so you have to fit within that. And also, you know, quite surreal. You get to be a little bit more expressive with the monsters. It’s not just strictly Judeo-Christian demons that we’ve seen a thousand times.
IGN: Is that was your Conjuring idea was? Was it more Judeo-Christian?
Robitel: It was just a little bit… there was a little bit more dead bodies, and a little bit more… it was a little too graphic and a little too… it just didn’t feel like the right idea.
IGN: Insidious feels more like a Poltergeist kind vibe.
Robitel: Absolutely. There’s a nostalgia, there’s a wistfulness. There’s this sort of, “What would we do if we could see our mother again?” kind of thing. So you’re right, it’s very Poltergeist and very Carnival of Souls too, ultimately.
IGN: Do you have any ideas - I know they haven’t announced anything - but do you have any ideas for other Insidious movies? The Second-To-Last Key?
Robitel: [Laughs.] I know Leigh has a lot of different ideas percolating around in his crazy brain, and I’m sure they’re already talking to him about that.
For more coverage of Insidious: The Last Key, check our review of the film as well as Leigh Whannell's guest column on his favorite haunted house movies!
William Bibbiani conducted this interview. Follow him at @WilliamBibbiani.