Warning: This article contains spoilers about Insidious: The Red Door.The ending of Insidious: The Red Door brought the Lambert family’s horror full circle, and had huge implications for the wider Insidious franchise. Set ten years after Josh Lambert went into The Further to rescue his son Dalton (Ty Simpkins), The Red Door reveals that the family’s ordeals have long-reaching implications. Despite being so traumatised he’s repressed any recollection of the previous Insidious movies, Dalton’s memories return when he draws the Red Door in a college art class. At the same time, Josh probes his family’s history of astral projection – a dangerous move given his previous demonic possession in Insidious: Chapter 2.
Dalton makes exploratory trips into The Further that bring him closer to tormented souls that wish to inhabit his body, while Josh realizes that Renai may hold the answers to his own waking nightmares. Convinced he can close the Red Door for good, Dalton heads into The Further one final time. However, when he becomes imprisoned by the Lipstick-Face Demon, Josh must return as well, using memories of prior visits to help his son escape. Once back in the real world, Dalton paints over his picture of the Red Door, while the spirit of Josh’s own father guides him out of The Further and helps the family reunite. It was a satisfying conclusion, and one that left many questions over what’s next for the Insidious franchise after The Red Door.
How Josh Came Back To Life In The Red Door’s Ending
The Spirit Of His Father Guides Josh Back To The Real World
While struggling to hold the Red Door closed so that the Lipstick-Face Demon can’t break through and claim Dalton, Josh decides that the only way his son can survive is for him to stay behind. When he accepts his fate, his heartbeat slows down in the real world where his body is being watched over by Renai and Foster until it appears he’s pᴀssed away. While this is happening, Dalton, who has returned to his physical body from The Further, furiously paints over his initial drawing of the Red Door, and Josh, now one of many lost souls trapped in The Further, watches with melancholy as it disappears behind him.
A short time later a figure appears; Ben Burton, Josh’s father, holding a lantern. The men exchange a knowing, happy smile, and as Ben’s image fades, the lantern remains, and Josh is able to use it to find a way out of The Further and back to the real world. When this happens, he gasps for air and comes surging back to life, greeted by teary relief from his family. Dalton, who ordinarily didn’t initiate contact with his father, immediately calls his mother to see if Josh has made it back safe, implying their relationship can be repaired.
Josh And Dalton Close The Red Door (For Good?)
A Key SH๏τ Could Forshadow The Future Of The Franchise
Given that Dalton painted over the Red Door in the real world, and it vanished behind Josh in The Further, it seems like the door is closed for good. However, in Insidious: The Red Door’s post-credits scene, the light from a ceiling fans flickers above the doorframe and illuminates the door, indicating that while the Red Door might be closed for the Lambert family, it’s still an active portal to The Further for someone else to encounter. This implies a potential franchise spin-off could be in the works if the fifth installment does well at the box office.
Insidious: Chapter 3 and Insidious: The Last Key were prequels that explored the origins of paranormal expert Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) and her childhood connection with the Keymaker demon and other doors. The Insidious: The Red Door ending didn’t explain how doors are created or how many exist, and while the Lamberts might be done with their Red Door, it might not be done claiming victims. Given how rushed the third act is and how little context and explanation it gives, the franchise as a whole will benefit from more world-building and lore.
The Significance Of Josh’s Father & His Lantern
While the concept of inherited trauma had been hinted at in Insidious when Josh’s mother Lorraine (Elizabeth Hershey) discussed the Black Bride’s attempts to use him as a vessel when he was a young boy, it’s a blatant theme in Insidious: The Red Door. When Josh gets attacked by a spirit in broad daylight, a fight in his mother’s closet leads him to a small box of paraphernalia that reveals the spirit’s idenтιтy; his father, Ben Burton, who’s been trying to reach him from The Further. Josh discovers that Ben took his own life in order to protect his family from the repercussions of his own astral projection.
A simple note left behind that reads “It ends with me” implies Ben felt his death would prevent inherited trauma as well as a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Once Josh accepts the uncomfortable truths about himself and his family history of mental illness, he’s able to enter The Further and save Dalton, and when Ben appears as a friendly apparition with a lantern, he’s acknowledging that while he might have felt incapable of saving his family all those years ago, his son’s family has a chance for an authentic relationship. He’s able to save his son and offer the means for Josh to end the trauma in a healthy way.
Elise’s Insidious: The Red Door Ending Cameo Explained
A Glimpse Of The Non-Demonic Enтιтies Of The Further
After safely returning from The Further and looking forward to repairing his relationship with his family and the end of Insidious: The Red Door, Josh leaves Renai’s house in a better mental place. A voice greets him, and he turns to see Elise Rainier standing in the road. Though he met her a long time ago, he doesn’t remember who she is or how she helped him, and when she tells him that she was a friend of his mother’s, he laments not being able to tell her about everything he’s been through.
She replies that he’ll get the chance to tell his mother someday and to keep “a steady stride,” a phrase the paranormal expert tells anyone entering The Further. Elise has a video cameo earlier in the film, but her appearance at the end, after she’s been ᴅᴇᴀᴅ for a decade, reminds Josh (and fans) that there are good spirits ᴀssociated with The Further as well who act as guides and guardians. It also implies that she might help Josh communicate with his mother at a later time, and use his unique abilities for something positive.
The Red Door’s Post-Credits Set Up More Insidious Movies
The Franchise Isn’t Over Yet
Given that the Red Door appears to be active in the post-credits scene for Insidious: The Red Door, it was always likely there would be more Insidious movies. The Lamberts have gotten their happy ending and kept their demons at bay, but the Lipstick-Face Demon didn’t get vanquished, nor did the other restless souls trapped in The Further. The Further is accessible to anyone with the ability to astral project, as other Insidious films have shown, which means that fans might even get a follow-up to the cliffhanger in Insidious: Chapter 2 that featured Wednesday’s Jenna Ortega.
According to a Screen Rant exclusive, Lin Shaye might even participate in future Elise-focused Insidious movies, and there’s also a spinoff in-development focusing on The Further called Thread starring Kumail Nanjiani and Mandy Moore. Insidious 6 has been confirmed, though nothing has been revealed about the sequel to The Red Door so far. However, it is known that it’s pinned for a 2026 release date.
How Did Josh & Dalton Get Back To The Further So Quickly?
Their Familial Bond Is A Huge Advantage
Whereas the first half of Insidious: The Red Door takes great care to establish its setting and the interpersonal relationships of its characters, the second half feels rushed, with the third act feeling positively abrupt. There isn’t much of an explanation why Dalton and Josh are able to access The Further so quickly after being disconnected from it for a decade. Given the timeline of the Insidious movies, there are a few reasons why they might be able to commune with The Further like pros.
From the very first film, Josh and Dalton have been established as very good travelers, with an astral presence so bright that every tormented soul in The Further is drawn to them, including the most powerful among them, the Lipstick-Face Demon.
Dalton falls right back into being an astral projection natural after his art professor instructs him to count back from ten and access his innermost thoughts, while Renai, with no help from Elise or her paranormal team Tucker and Specs, is able to hypnotize Josh into the skill as well. This is because from the very first film, Josh and Dalton have been established as very good travelers, with an astral presence so bright that every tormented soul in The Further is drawn to them, including the most powerful among them, the Lipstick-Face Demon. Fortunately, their bond is so strong with one another that they can navigate The Further efficiently once inside.
Will The Lambert Family Return After Insidious: The Red Door?
A New Roster Of Characters (Or Some Old Faces) May Be Needed
The Lambert family has been put through the ringer for three Insidious movies, and it seems like the door is closed on their chapter within the franchise. However, there have been many times when characters have returned in subsequent Insidious films like Elise Rainier, or Specs and Tucker, so there’s a chance that at least one member of the Lambert family could find themselves haunted by The Further again. The only problem with going that route is it might alter the message of Insidious: The Red Door.
Given that the the ending of Insidious: The Red Door made a conscious decision to connect the resolution of trauma with closing the Red Door, reopening it for the Lamberts might jeopardize that concept. It’s not impossible that they could (and perhaps even should) make cameos in future Insidious movies to act as tethers to the collective universe. And with no definitive end to the Lipstick-Face Demon, there’s always the chance it could go after Dalton’s offspring in a later installment.
What Insidious: The Red Door’s Ending Really Means
Insidious: The Red Door begins with the Lambert family fractured and in pain, with Josh and Dalton broken for reasons they can’t explain. Fans know the incredible connection that they share through their unique inherited abilities, but also because of how many times each of them sacrificed their own safety to save the other in The Further. As much as the film recaptures the spirit of earlier installments with its horror elements, it also establishes itself as a psychological thriller and a family drama with its ending.
The Red Door itself symbolizes the elephant in the Lambert living room that’s too frightening to talk about; chronic illness suffered in silence, leading to generational trauma, which turns into a struggle to communicate for Ben, Josh, and Dalton. The ending of Insidious: The Red Door shows that by suppressing their bad memories, Josh and Dalton also lost their good memories, such as Josh risking his life to save Dalton in Insidious, or Dalton going into The Further to save Josh from the Black Bride in Insidious: Chapter 2, but by making peace with their “demons” and remembering their loving connection, they’re able to save each other in several ways.
The Red Door Ending Compared To Other Insidious Movies
An Uncharacteristically Optimistic Conclusion
The Insidious: The Red Door ending concludes the Lambert family’s haunting saga with a poignant blend of horror and emotional resolution. Unlike earlier movies in the Insidious franchise, which often left audiences with cliffhangers or open-ended threats, The Red Door offers a sense of closure while still hinting at future terrors.
The original Insidious (2010) ends with a chilling twist. Josh, after rescuing his son Dalton from The Further, is possessed by the Bride in Black, leading to the murder of Elise. This shocking conclusion set the tone for the franchise’s penchant for unsettling endings. Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) continues this thread, delving deeper into the Lambert family’s history and the origins of the haunting. The second Insidious movie concludes with the revelation that the family’s troubles are far from over, as the spirit of the Bride in Black continues to loom, leaving viewers with a sense of impending doom.
The prequels, 2015’s Insidious: Chapter 3 and 2018’s Insidious: The Last Key, shift focus to Elise Rainier’s backstory. Chapter 3 ends with Elise sacrificing herself to save a young girl, only to reveal that she has been ᴅᴇᴀᴅ all along, adding a layer of tragic heroism to her character. The Last Key concludes with Elise confronting her traumatic past and defeating the demon Keyface, but not before inadvertently opening a door that leads to young Dalton Lambert, subtly tying back to the original films.
In contrast, The Red Door offers a more hopeful resolution. Josh and Dalton confront their repressed memories and the demons of The Further, ultimately closing the Red Door that has been the source of their torment. The fifth Insidious movie ends with the family beginning to heal, suggesting that the cycle of trauma may finally be broken. However, a post-credits scene showing the Red Door’s light flickering back on implies that the horrors of The Further may not be entirely vanquished.
While earlier films prioritized jump scares and supernatural threats, The Red Door delves into the psychological impact of the haunting on the Lambert family.
Compared to the endings of previous movies in the Insidious franchise, The Red Door stands out for its emotional depth and character development. While earlier films prioritized jump scares and supernatural threats, The Red Door delves into the psychological impact of the haunting on the Lambert family. The focus on generational trauma and the father-son relationship adds a layer of complexity that enriches the narrative.
Overall, Insidious: The Red Door distinguishes itself within the franchise by delivering an ending that is both haunting and heartfelt, marking a fitting conclusion to the Lambert family’s journey through The Further.
