Everything to Remember About the ‘Insidious’ Franchise Before ‘Out of the Further’ Hits Theaters

The Further is about to get a lot more crowded. The Insidious saga is made up of six installments spread across more than one time period, adding up to a tangled and menacing mythology. With the newest chapter almost here, now is the perfect time to revisit how this haunted house franchise built its world before diving back into the darkness.

Since debuting in 2010, the franchise has become known for its effective jump scares and unsettling supernatural elements, and that formula has clearly paid off. The series now spans five released films across thirteen years, with a confirmed sixth arriving in theaters.

The ‘Insidious’ Movies in Release Order

The films were originally released in theaters in this order, ‘Insidious’ in 2011, ‘Insidious: Chapter 2’ in 2013, ‘Insidious: Chapter 3’ in 2015, and ‘Insidious: The Last Key’ in 2018. ‘Insidious’ set the eerie tone of the franchise and introduced audiences to the Lambert family, while ‘Insidious: Chapter 2’ arrived three years later to dig deeper into the supernatural realm first introduced in the original film.

‘Insidious: Chapter 3’ actually functions as a prequel to the first film, directed by series creator Leigh Whannell. In it, the gifted but reluctant psychic Elise Rainier, played by Lin Shaye, is called upon to help a troubled teenage girl who becomes the target of a malevolent entity.

The fifth film, ‘Insidious: The Red Door,’ broke out in a big way. It earned over 182 million dollars at the global box office against a 16 million dollar budget, making it the highest grossing horror film of 2023. In fact, it stands as the highest grossing film in the entire franchise.

Untangling the Chronological Timeline

Here’s where things get interesting for horror fans who like their timelines straight. Insidious does not tell its complete story in the order the films were released, which means understanding how everything connects requires following the chronological order of events instead.

Following the Lambert family’s encounter with the Further, the franchise takes a step back in time, with ‘Chapter 3’ taking place three years earlier in 2007 and functioning as the first film in the chronology. The original 2010 film ‘Insidious,’ while first in the franchise by release, is actually third when it comes to chronology, and it introduces the Lambert family as they become entangled in Elise’s past mistakes.

‘Insidious: The Last Key’ pushes even further back. It takes viewers to the 1950s childhood home of demonologist Elise Rainier and her abuse filled upbringing, revealing how the emergence of her gift caused her to see ghosts and frightened her father so badly that he went to disturbing extremes to punish her for it.

One night, while locked in the basement, Elise is contacted by a malevolent spirit that tricks her into releasing it into the world, and that entity murders Elise’s mother, creating a permanent rift between her and her father.

The Last Key’s ending directly sets up the main Insidious film, in which Elise receives a call from Lorraine Lambert asking for help with her grandson Dalton, and watching that connection allows fans to understand Elise’s backstory before seeing her return in the original ‘Insidious.’

‘Insidious: The Red Door’ completes the chronological puzzle in its own unexpected way. Despite hitting theaters in 2023, it is actually a direct sequel to ‘Chapter 2,’ which arrived a decade earlier in 2013, and the story is set in 2019, nine years after the terrifying events of the first two films. The film follows both Josh and a college aged Dalton as they attempt to live a normal life after having their memories of the Further removed at the end of ‘Chapter 2.’

What ‘Out of the Further’ Brings to the Table

‘Insidious: Out of the Further’ is an upcoming American supernatural horror film written and directed by Jacob Chase, serving as a sequel to ‘Insidious: The Red Door’ and standing as the sixth installment in the franchise. It stars Amelia Eve, Brandon Perea and Maisie Richardson Sellers, with Lin Shaye reprising her role from the previous films.

In ‘Insidious: Out of the Further,’ Amelia Eve stars as Gemma, a young mother raising her daughter in the house she grew up in who discovers she can travel into the Further, the purgatorial realm of lost souls at the heart of the Insidious universe. When something evil comes after her, Gemma discovers an ability that changes everything, because she does not just enter the Further, she can bring what lives there back into the real world. Once the demons realize her power, our world becomes their playground.

The franchise’s box office pedigree only raises the stakes for this new chapter. Having scared up more than 740 million dollars at the global box office across five films, the frightening franchise is returning to the big screen as one of the most anticipated horror movies of the year. The film is scheduled for release on August 21, 2026, distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing.

Given that ‘The Red Door’ was already the top grossing entry, the pressure is on for ‘Out of the Further’ to prove that Elise Rainier and the mythology of the Further still have plenty of terror left to give. With a new family at the center of the haunting and a returning icon guiding them through it, this feels like a real test of whether the franchise can keep evolving without losing what made it scary in the first place. Are you more excited to see Gemma’s new abilities play out, or would you rather see the story circle back to the Lamberts one more time?