Sinister Review

American film director Scott Derrickson is in tuned to what makes horror work, he has made a career of filming what goes bump in the night with films like “Hellraiser: Inferno” and “The Exorcism of Emily Rose,” but the film that showed his mastery of the genre, most would agree, is his 2012 film “Sinister.” Written by Derrickson and his writing partner C. Robert Cargill the two teamed up to create a film that would provide something new to the milieu of horror while still paying homage to the films that came before it. “Sinister” as a film is fixated on darkness, whether it be actual darkness and the creatures lurking within it or the darkness of obsession as a writer slowly descending into madness trying to reclaim his faded glory. The team of Derrickson and Cargill create a melting pot of different ideas found in the horror genre and re-adapt it to fit within the narrative found in the film. 

Elison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) is a past his prime true crime novelist still riding on the success and notoriety of his first novel Kentucky Blood, a book that takes heavy liberties on police procedure as a local Sheriff points out. Uprooted and relocated, his family settle into a new home that hides a “sinister,” bad pun I know, secret tied to the new novel Elison is poised to write; His next Kentucky Blood he tells his dangerously supportive wife Tracy (Juliet Rylance). The community Elison invades for personal gain is in the process of healing after the grisly murders of four members of a family of five, defensively, the head sheriff (Fred Thompson) gently tries to intimidate/persuade him to pack up their belongings and leave, saying his choice of moving into the crime scene is “in poor taste.” Their new spacious suburban home was bought way below market price due to the murders that occurred by hanging in the backyard, a reason only Elison knows of. This being the basis of his new novel and thinking the investigate could uncover the missing fifth member, it causes hostility from local law enforcement due to the commotion the crime writer’s novels bring. 

As the family begins to reacclimate themselves to their new surroundings Elison soon begins his writing process, setting up his office and cracking open a bottle of whiskey. Their first night in the home ushers in the tension as Elison finds a box in the attic labeled “Home Movies” with a super 8 projector to view them. This is where “Sinister” begins to lovingly exhibit tropes from the films its inspired by. In essence Elison is similar to a protagonist found in a Noir film, introverted and driven by the promise of success he slowly piecing together clues that he’s found, only for it to signify his downfall by the end. 

“Sinister” finds its strength in the emotional performances of its lead characters, Hawke portrays a down and out novelist that rather chase extreme cases instead of writing college textbooks as a source of income and Rylance’s performance as a supportive wife that stands by her husband creates a believable relationship, even though there are some moments that are there just to create tension. This tension hits its apex as Elison begins to isolate himself in his office more and more, straining his relationship with his wife and children that have begun to exhibit night terrors and sleepwalking brought on by what they believe is stress due to the move. In reality the children soon become the target of playground taunts that reveal the true nature of what happened in the house.

Many of Elison’s scenes are of him analyzing the 8milimeter home movies he found, these meticulously filmed sequences show the attention to detail and love for the 8mm era of film while also creating an eerie sense of terror. The projector reel sounds off as the viewer sees intimate family moments intercut with scenes of the family’s murders, the weaponized voyeurism perverts these family instances that create some of the best moments of modern horror; one fine example being the lawnmower reel. A very clever practice the filmmakers utilized was withholding the “snuff” reels from Hawke and filming his initial reaction on the day of shooting to get a more genuine reaction, something that paid off quite well.

 As Elison becomes more and more fixated on these reels, and after digitally transferring them, he begins noticing that each have the same mysterious symbol as well as a masked figure. An encounter with a deputy who is a fan of Elison’s leads him to enlist the help of the university occult specialist for more clues on what it might be. This might be one of the few moments that hurts the overall quality and pacing of the film, instead of having Elison undercover the mystery by himself or even keeping the symbol and creature’s origin a mystery, we have Professor Jonas (Vincent D’Onofrio) explain everything through a voice call. 

One of the most powerful elements of horror is the fear of the unknow and the scene with Jonas speaking only in exposition deflates some of the fear and tension created in the first half of the film, as we find out that the creature is known as the Pagan deity “Bughuul,” whose name literally translating back to “boogeyman.” Taking elements from many of Stephen King’s film adaptations such as “The Shining” and Hideo Nakata’s “Ringu,” “Sinister” still has the ability to frighten those that watch because its strong buildup of fear and tension but might leave some hanging by the film’s conclusion.