REEL DEAL: "Insidious: Chapter 3" Breaks Records for Biggest Horror Opening in PH‏

Columbia Pictures' “Insidious: Chapter 3” gave the Philippine box-office a good scare as it grossed a spooky P65-million in only three days. This enabled it to take out “San Andreas” from the No. 1 spot (P58-million in 5 days) and break the record of last year's “Annabelle” (P53-M) for the biggest opening weekend ever for a horror film.

This was announced today by a spokesman of Columbia Pictures which distributed the film locally.

“Insidious: Chapter 3” is the new movie in the terrifying horror series, written and directed by franchise co-creator Leigh Whannell. The film is set years before the haunting of the Lambert family, and the psychic Elise’s (Lin Shaye) battles with spirits from The Further, in “Insidious” and “Insidious: Chapter 2.”

The film frightened off two more significant records along the way: Biggest single-day gross ever for a horror title achieved on Saturday, June 6 at P23.9 million, beating “Annabelle's” P15.7 million by 52 percent; and all-time highest horror opening day at P20-million on Friday, June 5, going over and beyond previous record-holder “The Conjuring's” P9-million by 118 percent.

REEL DEAL:

One of Hollywood’s most promising young talents, Stefanie Scott plays the lead in Columbia Pictures' “Insidious: Chapter 3” as teenaged aspiring actress Quinn Brenner who senses that her late mother is trying to contact her, and seeks out a gifted psychic – Elise (Lin Shaye).

Director-screenwriter Leigh Whannell comments, “In writing the character of Quinn, I tried to create a teenage girl in an honest way. I feel that they tend to be portrayed a certain way in films, one that doesn’t honestly reflect their goals and concerns. Quinn and Elise mirror each other in how they are dealing with loss at a turning point in their lives, and it was important to me that audiences connect with both of them.”

Scott found her director’s attention to emotional detail most welcome. “In the story, Quinn has kept a diary,” the actress explains. “Leigh gave me a blank diary – and a huge box of stuff to decorate it with: jewels, markers, paint. I decorated the cover – and then I wrote in the journal every day as Quinn, about what she’s going through with losing her mother. Leigh also gave me a book about dealing with that kind of loss, which is how I truly started to get an understanding of what it must be like.”

REEL DEAL: "Insidious: Chapter 3" Keeps Horror Tradition Alive‏

The description “very dark and weird” has been part and parcel of the enduring shivery appeal of the Insidious movies, evoking dread and terror – sometimes explainable for the characters, sometimes not. This could not have been truer in the new sequel, “Insidious: Chapter 3” from Columbia Pictures.

Teen cast member Stefanie Scott remarks, “It’s the fear of the unknown that works on you – like when you hear a noise and think, ‘Huh, that’s nothing.’ But in these movies, it is...something.”

Director and screenwriter Leigh Whannell adds, “It’s your own imagination that can start freaking you out right away; a floorboard creaking can set you off. In the Insidious movies, we build on that and tease the audience a little.

REEL DEAL: Dermot Mulroney Stars in His First Horror Film, "Insidious: Chapter 3"‏

Talented actor Dermot Mulroney (“August: Osage County,” “My Bestfriend's Wedding”) plays widowed father Sean who struggles to hold his family together amid a supernatural disturbance in Columbia Pictures' horror-thriller “Insidious: Chapter 3.”

“Sean is a father that has lost his wife to disease and who is trying to keep his kids in order and get through the day,” Mulroney describes his character. “So he is this worried dad that is also a hard-working blue-collar type of guy that lives in an apartment. And it’s hard for him to keep up with the day-to-day responsibilities of his home because of the loss his family is suffering.”

“Insidious: Chapter 3” is the new movie in the terrifying horror series, written and directed by franchise co-creator Leigh Whannell. The film is set years before the haunting of the Lambert family, and the psychic Elise’s battles with spirits from The Further, in “Insidious” and “Insidious: Chapter 2.”