Insidious (2010) review

A little boy becomes possessed by an evil spirit that looks like Darth Maul crossed with a gigantic arachnid and it's up to Dad (Patrick Wilson) to go into the boy's Dream World to save him. This cobbles together various horror movies (from Poltergeist to The Amityville Horror to The Exorcist) for its purely technical construction - is it so much to ask that the filmmakers provide characters that somehow "matter" and that their plight is something to empathize with instead of worrying about Boo Moments (that aren't even moderately scary)? There are a few choice bits of humor - and Lin Shaye is commendable in a silly role as the medium - but once again I was rooting for the baddies to win the day. And they do. So good for them.