The Insidious franchise has been terrifying and intriguing viewers since 2010 with its unique supernatural horror premise. The franchise will expand in 2025 with Insidious 6 and the spinoff movie Thread: An Insidious Tale. Viewers who want to catch up with the horror franchise before the spinoff and sequel can use our guide to find out where and how to watch the Insidious movies in order.
The franchise began in 2010 with the James Wan-directed Insidious. On a budget of just $1.5 million, Insidious proved genuinely terrifying with its jump scares and infamous red demon scene. The film follows Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai Lambert (Rose Byrne) as they move into a new home with their young sons, Dalton (Ty Simpkins) and Foster (Andrew Astor). Things take a dark turn when Dalton inexplicably falls into a coma, which coincides with frightening paranormal activity in their home. They are forced to seek advice from psychic Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) and confront dark details from Josh’s past and spirit realm of The Further.
Insidious’ success quickly spawned a franchise. The sequel, Insidious: Chapter 2, picks up immediately after Insidious and sees the Lambert family’s nightmare continue as a woman in a white dress haunts them. Josh’s mother, Lorraine (Barbara Hershey), must reveal further family secrets to help them understand what is happening to them. The movie was another success, although it seemed to close out the Lambert family’s story.
The following two films in the series were prequels that go back in time to explore Rainier’s history and career. Insidious: Chapter 3 takes place three years before the Lambert family haunting and sees Rainier explore a case involving Quinn Brenner (Stefanie Scott). After an attempt to contact Quinn’s late mother accidentally unleashes a malevolent spirit, Rainier is forced to delve deeper into The Further to save Quinn. The film’s box office success and praise for its emotional premise resulted in another prequel, Insidious: The Last Key, in which Rainier is forced to uncover her family’s secrets after she’s called to investigate paranormal activity in her former childhood home. The prequel closes out Rainier’s solo story and leads directly into the events of Insidious.
Five years after the fourth installment, Insidious: The Red Door premiered and brought the story back to the Lamberts. The film takes place nine years after the events of Insidious, as Dalton heads off to college but finds that The Further refuses to leave him and his father alone.
Following Insidious: The Red Door’s success at the box office, Insidious 6 was announced. It’s expected to continue the Lamberts’ or Rainier’s story, but no cast has been confirmed. Meanwhile, a spinoff is in development that will take place in the Insidious universe but will be separate from the main series.
How to watch the Insidious movies in order
Viewers can watch the Insidious franchise in either chronological or release date order. To watch the series chronologically, one would watch the prequels before Insidious and its sequels. The chronological order is as follows:
- Insidious: Chapter 3
- Insidious: The Last Key
- Insidious
- Insidious: Chapter 2
- Insidious: The Red Door
Where to watch all Insidious movies streaming online
Check out our list below for the release date order and where to stream the Insidious movies online in the U.S.!
