For a mainstream Hollywood movie, I had to give Sinister a 3.5 out of 5 stars because it was a little above average. Rather than the bloodbaths I’m used to watching alone in my room, I actually opted to go out in public and watch a horror movie that is deemed normal by the rest of society. Seeing as I am a complete gore/horror freak, this didn’t really cut it for me, but I was still pleasantly surprised with how much I DIDN’T hate the movie. Despite the lack of blood, rape, brutality, necrophilia, torture, and abduction that typically attracts me to the horror movie genre, I still found the movie interesting enough for me to stay in the theater and not attempt to fall asleep in my half-eaten bowl of popcorn. The storyline has something to do with an ancient monster that possesses children to kill their families and then takes the children to the “other side” or wherever the hell child-possessing demons choose to reside. Ethan Hawke plays a father and a writer/ investigator of unsolved crimes. He moves near houses where mass murders were committed and explores them, trying to find answers to how people have disappeared and why the police have been unable to crack the case. He cleverly decides its a good idea to move into a house where an entire family was murdered so he can further his investigation on this mystery. Little does he know, he is fucking with the WRONG force. He discovers a box of video tapes in the attic, each one more disturbing than the next. The movie was pretty bleh, but the video tapes were totally badass. Can you begin to guess why I think they are badass? Well it goes a little something like this. The “home videos” he finds are actually recordings of each of the families that this “boogie man” has decided to kill. Basically whoever is holding this camera is filming the family being tortured and then eventually killed. Pretty gnarly right? You got mom, dad, and the kids dying in the absolute most fucked up ways. Considering this is a Hollywood blockbuster, it didn’t take it to the place that exploitation films do, but I still found it mildly entertaining.
Throughout the film, you’re wondering not only who is killing these families, but who is sick enough to film the dirty deed and keep the tapes around for anyone to discover. The thought of an entire family being murdered on tape is beyond unsettling, which was pretty much why I stayed interested in the movie. The director, Scott Derrickson, struck a new level of terror and twisted sickness in the audience with his ability to make a movie about a truly horrifying yet realistic occurrence. Whole families get murdered all the time, and the fact that the Derrickson made Sinister about this, truly intrigued me. I don’t want to spoil the movie for anyone reading this, even though I pretty much did already in my first 4 sentences of this review, but I love the element of wondering if it was a serial killer or a supernatural force offing these families. Unless you decided to completely skip my first paragraph, no its not a serial killer. This “boogie man” is actually quite terrifying and the image is definitely freaky and original enough to stay in your head. As far as the acting and plot go, it was pretty damn good, but hey, thats Hollywood for you. I wouldn’t recommend this film to horror fans that are as intense as me, but if you’re looking for a decent/ almost good mainstream film, I would say go for it. Don’t expect it to scare the absolute living shit out of you, but it’s originality and suspense make it quite watchable and I left the theater not feeling like I got ripped off for once.
Gorror 