The opening starts with the appearance of a variety of institution names that were involved, shown in a vibrant red font which represents the typical conventions of horror. The red connotes blood, gore and danger which the audience can then make the assumption that the film is going to be gory and possibly a slasher. The font also has a smokey effect added which can represent that type of horror genre that the film is going to be. From this effect, it gives the audience a sense of something paranormal, ghostly and mysterious. The text is placed onto a black background which adds to the conventions of horror as black illustrates death and mystery. Due to the colours and effects given to the text, the audience are already uncomfortable and can feel the tension before the film has started.
The font then disappears and the background remains black. A white, flickering circle then floats up to the centre of the screen. Then the directors name 'James Wan' slowly appears in the centre of the circle to attract the attention of the audience due to James Wan being a well-known director of successful horrors such as, 'The Conjuring'. The name appeared in a simple, plain black font which differed from the other text. This circle then turns slowly 180 degrees right and name fades away during the process. Due to the circle turning upside down, this can foreshadow something unusual and what may happen in the film as something upside down can represent things doing wrong. This circle then turns out to be a light bulb on the ceiling.
From this light bulb, there is then a tilting panning shot from a high angle and a boy in the dark, sleeping in his bed alone is shown. This high angle shot makes the sleeping boy look small, weak and vunerable. It is another typical convention of horror as there is normally a character which is portrayed as being weak. As the audience can already sense something unusual, they automatically feel worried for the small child on his own. As their is a tracking shot around the room the mise-en-scene shows that the boy is young as the audience can see a teddy bear, lava lamp, a toy horse and brightly coloured bed sheets. The lava lamp acts as another light source in his room which portrays the innocence of the boy as he appears to be afraid of the dark as many young children are. The coloured bed sheets portray immaturity and youth as the colours are seen as being playful, happy colours. Adults tend to have more formal, dull and plain colours such as white, brown etc. to illustrate their maturity. This mise-en-scene also shows that the film is in the past as there are no sign of modern technology such a TV's or phones in the bedroom. Furthermore, this increases the feeling of isolation and loneliness.
The discomfort amongst the audience gradually increases along with the high-pitched, non-diegetic music. The sound suddenly becomes fast, very high-pitched and loud as the tracking shot then stops on a shadow of someone standing outside of the window. As the shot zooms in, on the shadow, it appears that the person walks away to the right. 
The tracking shot then follows it around the corner to then reveal a person who appears to be an old, pale and angry woman holding a lit candle. The appearance of the women's face and the fast sound of violins makes the audience feel very tense and worried as the scary women is in the house with the young child who is unaware.
The face and the flickering candle slowly fades away into complete darkness. The the large title 'INSIDIOUS' appears in bold, red capital letters. The letters have sharp edges and look similar to devil horns. The title is flickering just like the candle that the mysterious woman was holding. This makes the audience feel even more uncomfortable and aware that the woman holding the candle is important throughout the narrative.
After the title disappears suddenly slow, haunted pictures of the house appear along with the red credits that have the same smokey effect as the credits at the very beginning of the opening. All of the pictures used in the sequence are black and white to support the gothic and paranormal themes. As all of the pictures are focused around the house, it gives the audience the assumption that the narrative is based around the house which appears to have a long, haunted history. Some of the pictures in the sequence have a shadow of a person standing but you can not see anyone standing there. Therefore, it supports the idea of the film having a paranormal theme.
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