A Closer Look At The Brilliant Actors Who Bring The Monsters Of Insidious To Life

The "Insidious" movies were a game-changer in the world of horror. It proved that the success of "Saw" for James Wan and Leigh Whannell wasn't a fluke, that audiences would eagerly turn out in droves for a quality ghost story, and helped solidify Blumhouse Productions' place as tastemakers for the genre. Horror franchises tend to favor larger-than-life monsters or slashers causing chaos and hacking teenagers to bits, but the "Insidious" films are all about nefarious forces invading the lives of innocent people via a horrific ghost dimension known as the Further.

Throughout the five films in the "Insidious" franchise, audiences were introduced to a haunting rogue's gallery of supernatural scaries, all played to perfection by an impressive roster of performers. With "Insidious: The Red Door" now in theaters, let's take a look beyond the Further and underneath the ghoulish designs to celebrate those who have inspired nightmares for over a decade.

One of the longstanding malevolent spirits in the "Insidious" series is The Bride in Black, aka Parker Crane. Philip Friedman played The Bride as an adult in the first "Insidious" film. Tom Fitzpatrick took over the role for "Insidious: Chapter 2" (with Tyler Griffin playing the child version of the character in the second film), and played the character once more in "Chapter 3". The origin story of Parker Crane, unfortunately, plays into an old transphobic horror trope, insinuating that gender confusion caused by his mother's abuse turned him into a cross-dressing serial killer. However, the Bride in Black's character is truly terrifying, and as the entity responsible for killing Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye), one of the most dangerous.

Friedman didn't have a whole lot to do in the first "Insidious" movie but has also appeared as Aidan James in "Shadow of the Blair Witch" and Lyle Craven in "The Lady of the Dead" if you're looking to see more of his work. Meanwhile, Fitzpatrick has a career spanning over 50 years across stage and screen, and was given much more to do in "Insidious: Chapter 2" as the film's main antagonist. Fitzpatrick used his extensive background in theatrical performance and character work to deliver a Grande Dame Guignol performance as the Bride. He was so effective, Blumhouse even hired a Bride to take to the red carpet in full character to continue terrifying the masses.

Many of the "Insidious" monsters are demonic or corpselike, but Danielle Bisutti's The Woman in White aka Michelle Crane in "Insidious: Chapter 2" is a reminder that sometimes the scariest monsters are the humans that walk among us. Michelle was the abusive mother of Parker Crane who would grow up to become the Woman in Black. Michelle is typically seen in a white gown with elegant makeup and hair, but an unnaturally pale face. In the Further, she bleeds from her eyes and mouth whenever unleashing her supernatural powers on the humans trying to stop her. Bisutti doesn't have the prosthetics or monstrous makeup designs as most of the entities shown throughout the "Insidious" franchise and is also able to communicate whereas most of the others are relatively silent.

Bisutti was perfect for the role, as the character actor has been performing for much of her life. She boasts an impressive television resume of guest appearances, and younger millennials may recognize her as Amanda Cantwell on "True Jackson, VP" opposite KeKe Palmer and Robbie Amell. "Insidious: Chapter 2", however, was not Bisutti's first role in horror — she also portrayed Barb Pierce, the sister of franchise regular Nica Pierce (Fiona Dourif) who is stabbed in the eye by everyone's favorite serial killer possessed doll in "Curse of Chucky".

In addition to film and television, Bisutti also played The Witch of the Woods/Freya/Frigg in the "God of War" video games, earning her a BAFTA Award nomination for Performer in a Supporting Role.

"Insidious: Chapter 3" was the first of two prequels in the "Insidious" series, and featured the major monster known as Man Who Can't Breathe. He is a thin, ghostly man in a hospital gown that constantly wears a breathing mask, a means to cover his decayed mouth. The role was played by Michael Reid MacKay, a creature actor who has been performing since the late 1980s. His first role solidified his place in horror history as the Mummy in the beloved horror comedy, "The Monster Squad." Ever since then, MacKay has been playing all sorts of fascinating characters across a variety of film genres.

Ironically, his first non-creature role was still playing a monster, as he was Charles Manson in the TV movie, "Summer Dreams: The Story of the Beach Boys". Other notable roles include the Rachel Demon in "Highway to Hell", the Gargoyle in "Cast a Deadly Spell", the Sloth Victim in "Se7en", pre-bulky Bane in "Batman & Robin" and Jason 143 in "X2: X-Men United". MacKay is naturally very thin, and often plays creature roles, but has amassed a resume filled with characters like "Skinny Guy" and "Thin Man", including the "Skinny Husband" in "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls", remembered for being the man Jim Carrey describes as "The Monopoly Guy."

"Insidious: The Last Key" is the first "Insidious" film to not have creators James Wan or Leigh Whannell in the director's chair, with "The Taking of Deborah Logan" director Adam Robitel at the helm with a script by Whannell. The main baddie in this installment is known as KeyFace aka The Key Bearer. The creature has a ghastly, almost skeletal appearance, and long metallic fingernails that take the shape of keys. The creature is absolute nightmare fuel and was played by a living master in the world of monster actors: Javier Botet.

Botet was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome at a young age, giving him hyperlaxity in some of his tissues, as well as an extremely tall and thin build with elongated limbs and digits. At 6 feet 7 inches tall, Botet's unique physique has allowed him to thrive in the horror genre. His first film was in Brian Yuzna's "The Vampire's Stage" in 2005, but Botet made his mark on the genre by playing Tristana Medeiros in the "[REC]" franchise. This high-profile role led to a series of memorable creature performances including the titular "Mama", the god Set in "The Mummy", and the king of creepypastas himself in 2018, "Slender Man".

Additionally, Botet has played creatures in "Crimson Peak", "The Conjuring 2", "It: Chapters One and Two", "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark", "Game of Thrones", and most recently, Dracula in "The Last Voyage of the Demeter". Botet was also a motion capture artist for the Xenomorph in "Alien: Covenant". Simply put, he's a creature actor legend.

The Lipstick-Face Demon, often joked about as the long-lost child of Darth Maul of "Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace", is synonymous with the "Insidious" series thanks to the phenomenal jump scare in the first film where the entity unexpectedly appears behind Patrick Wilson. While it may be difficult to tell just who is behind the red and black makeup and sharp teeth, well-versed horror fans know it to be horror composer Joseph Bishara.

In addition to playing the Lipstick-Face Demon in the "Insidious" films, Bishara has also done creature work as Bathsheba in "The Conjuring", the Annabelle Demon in the "Annabelle" films, the Valak Demon in "The Conjuring 2", the Crone in "Dead Night" and the Night Hag in "Dreamkatcher". But perhaps more notably, Bishara is also a prolific composer of horror scores.

Some of Bishara's most notable scores include "The Convent", "Gravedancers", "Autopsy", "11-11-11", "Dark Skies", "The Vatican Tapes",the "Gorgeous Vortex" segment of "V/H/S/: Viral", both "Trick" and "Friday the 31st" segments of "Tales of Halloween", "The Other Side of the Door", and even a track on Wan's "Aquaman". He's also penned scores for films like "The Prodigy", "The Curse of La Llorona", "The Unholy", "Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin", and of course, the "Insidious" and "The Conjuring" movies.

He's also collaborated with Tech N9ne on the song "Shroud", leading to the duo's co-written "Brightfall", which inspired a series of horror short films starring the two. Bishara has also worked in other aspects of film production, providing sound design services for "John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars" and serving as a music producer for "Repo! The Genetic Opera".

When it comes to horror, Bishara is the best of the very best.