Sinister (2012)

What would you do if you moved into a new home in a strange town, found an old dusty box filled with various family videos, but each video showed the death of the family in the end. Personally I would GTF out of the house and never look back but… Im not in a movie and what you chose could kill you.

Sinister staring Ethan Hawke, & Juliet Rylance with a cameo by Vincent D’Onofrio is, for all intents and purposes, a really good movie. Basically the movie is about Ellison (Hawke) a struggling true crime writer trying to recapture the glory of his famed NY time’s best selling book “Kentucky Blood”.  After moving uprooting his family yet again to research his next book, Ellison finds a mysterious box of super 8 family films depicting violent deaths and begins to research the families. As he digs deeper into the films past, strange things begin to happen around his home.

Sinister will have you on the edge of your seat. The film makers really did a great job of creating a really thick atmosphere. You get a great feeling of impending dread while watching the film. The lighting in the house was amazing! The choice to have the film lighting very sparse during the night shots help add tension to the films already heavy feeling.

The films villain is very effective. Dark, Creepy, and Menacing are all words you can use to describe him. The image of him is so effective, the sight of him made the audience in the theater squirm. The make up effects were great to boot. While most incidents didn’t need a lot, it was used effectively when it was.

The acting was done well, Ethan carries the film for me, his performance is outstanding. Acting, emotion, and believability is on point in this effort. D’Onofrio’s cameo was surprisingly well done, playing a nerdy occult college professor his quirky lines and slightly awkward demeanor is well received. The entire cast gave great performances but as I stated earlier Hawke carries the film.

While there is not a lot of red stuff the deaths in the film are done superbly. The viewers get hangings, knifings, lawn mowers, drowning’s, burnings and a few more that are truly unnerving. I also thing the story was well written and acted, while there are some slower aspects to the film they are warranted and help move along the actual story and character development.

My only problem with the film was the ending, while it was good, I would have like to see it go a different direction. I personally feel like it was rushed, and or a studio change. I have a feeling when this film hit home video that we will see an alternate ending or 2 pop up. Other than that I was 100% satisfied with the money spent to see the film. Sinister will be in my collection once it hits DVD and Blu-Ray.

Sinister is a very well done physiological horror film, with more emphasis on atmosphere and mood rather than blood and guts. While there are some cheap jump scares, the writers manage to work them in appropriate areas of the film. For those reasons GLP give this successful effort 4 out of 5 stabs. Sinister is currently on its 3rd week in theaters and has made over 13x the amount in the box office as it was made for. I can personally see a sequel coming and coming rather soon. Be sure to check it out in theaters while you still can, as it is defiantly worth the price of addition. For more on Sinister visit their website and facebook page. View the trailer below.

GLP Rating: