2010’s “Insidious” was a skillfully constructed haunted house flick that lived and died by the power of the image, delivering its most effective moments when it dared its audience to look directly at its most malicious apparitions. For better and for worse, returning director James Wan renounces the more meticulous elements of the first film to devise a more fun, albeit less frightening, experience in “Insidious: Chapter 2.”

Thankfully, “Chapter 2” is a direct sequel, picking up in the ensuing days after the Lambert family retrieved their child from the mortal grasp of a spiritual world called the Further. While Dalton (Ty Simpkins) returns unscathed, his father Josh (Patrick Wilson) is not quite his old self. As the Lamberts try to reacclimate to normal life, it quickly becomes clear that they have not escaped the Further’s reach.

Wan seems genuinely interested in exploring these characters and the universe they inhabit, making it enjoyable to observe how the traumatic effects of the first film linger in Josh’s fraying demeanor and Renai’s (Rose Byrne) fevered eyes. When signs of their continued connection to the spiritual world become dangerously apparent, the characters respond with a natural sense of escalation that benefits “Chapter 2”’s frenetic plot.

In service of a fast-paced narrative, the scares come quicker and louder in “Chapter 2” with Wan relying heavily on the disorienting effects of jarring handheld cameras and obtrusive sound effects. In comparison, the compositional framing and overall subtlety of the original proved a more potent formula, but “Chapter 2” justifies itself if only in the moments it manages to conjure and successfully build on those hallowed grounds.

amaenche@mavs.coloradomesa.edu