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:
