How Insidious: Out of the Further Built Its Fort and Dentist Scares

Insidious: Out of the Further is one of the best Insidious movies we've gotten in years. From a fort made of more than 250 custom cushions to a dentist scene shot in a real dentist office, here's what went into making the film. Major spoilers are held until the final section.

There are some terrifying scenes in this movie. The fort scene, the dentist scene and the dog scene in the closet are my favorites, and of those, I loved the fort scene the best.

The fort scene used over 250 custom cushions, moving walls and trapdoors

When it came to making the fort scene, the production used over 250 individual custom cushions, complete with moving walls, hidden trapdoors and complex wire rigs.

Amelia Eve, the actress who plays Gemma, described the shoot as completely bonkers. She had to navigate through all of these physical spaces on her hands and knees, while the other human actors playing demons crawled through the tunnels right alongside her. Honestly, it looked terrifying.

Gemma's house was built twice on an Australian sound stage

For the house, the production designers created two homes. Both sets were built on a sound stage in Australia. One home was used for the present day scenes, while the other was used for when Gemma goes into the Further and for the past scenes with her mother.

Having two versions of the house allowed the crew to shoot dramatic lighting changes and physical transitions as the Further bleeds into the present timeline.

The demon makeup tent reportedly spanned a city block

I believe this movie also has the most demons of any Insidious movie ever. According to Leigh Whannell, the makeup tent on set was so big it spanned the equivalent of an entire city block.

Dozens of artists worked for months designing costumes, casting face molds and applying body paint for all the demons we see in the film.

The dentist scene was shot in a real dentist office with practical teeth

The fan favorite dentist scene was filmed in a real dentist office, with a real life hygienist assisting the cast and crew. By renting out the entire dentist suite, with custom chairs and tools, the production was able to pull off the practical effects and one of the best scares in the entire film.

When the teeth inside Lester's mouth bite onto Gemma, that moment was done with practical effects. The team used a custom built secondary set of real teeth that fit inside the actor's mouth. The dentist sequences were some of the most unsettling pieces the people behind them had ever worked on in their entire careers.

Whenever the camera is inside the teeth, that shot was done using a fake head and dummy mouth created on set. The crew cut a hole in the back of the head to put the camera there, and they filled the mouth with oatmeal and slime to make it look like a real human mouth that was decaying.

Real fog and black contact lenses left actors disoriented

The fog inside the house wasn't digital fog or haze. The production actually fogged out the entire house, so for many scenes the actors could only see a few feet in front of them. That created genuine unscripted reactions of confusion and disorientation during chase scenes, with demons popping out of nowhere.

The actors portraying the demons also wore black contact lenses. Some of them could see well enough in the lenses to move around, but others had to wear lenses that left them blind. That total lack of eye movement gave the entities an uncanny, nonhuman gaze that added to the horror.

The film was shot in Australia on an $18 million budget in two months

Although the movie takes place in the US, it was filmed in Australia on an $18 million budget. All the sound stages were located in Australia, and some street scenes were filmed in Victoria.

Principal photography was completed in only two months. Filming officially began on September 29th, 2025, and wrapped on November 13th, 2025.

The movie was filmed under the title Insidious: The Bleeding World

During its 2025 shoot in Australia, the film was going by a different title: Insidious: The Bleeding World. That name was used to prevent leaks that the Further would be coming through to the real world. It was changed early on, before the trailer for the movie was released.

Spoiler: Elise possesses someone without permission for the first time

This final detail is one of my favorites, and it does contain a spoiler. This is the first Insidious movie ever where Elise takes possession of someone without their permission. In earlier movies, such as when she takes control of Carl in Insidious: Chapter 2, she does it in order to talk to humans and help them.

Toward the end of this movie, though, she takes control of Lester, goes in and takes Maya away from Cyrus and out of the house. That allows Gemma to bring the entire house, along with the demons and Cyrus, back to the Further.

Elise was a pivotal part of this movie. Lin Shaye's Elise is the only Insidious character in all six movies, and it would be pretty awesome if we got to see her in some future films.

What was your favorite part of Insidious: Out of the Further?