Sinister

Rarely does a horror movie deliver with the right atmosphere, the unsettling images being shown to us, the mood gratifying towards a grimm, dark setting. Sinister from last year is one of those that sets up the buildup perfectly, and ends well enough.

The out of nowhere so called best horror movie of 2012 according to some sources. So naturally, I am interested in this original attempt. A crime writer and his family have recently moved into a new house. One day, the writer finds inside the attic old 8mm snuff films that depict the victims of a serial killer starting at the 60’s and gradually moving through the decades through last year of 2011. 

Secretly, only the writer knows that the murdered family in the opening scene was murdered in the new house they now occupy. So he is using this old crime scene to gather inspiration for his new crime book, but he curiously gets drawn more upon the mystery and details resolving around the victims, the killer and the missing 5^th family member, the youngest daughter.

What’s interesting about the creepy 8mm films is not only their homicidal nature, but also their graphical difference from present time, and the fact that this is the collection of a serial killer that is still being viewed by someone else.

It allows for a gripping suspenseful atmosphere to merge out of Sinister and it also keeps the interest going as Ethan Hawke, the actor playing the writer, continues to find little hints and clues as to the nature of these killings. 

Especially when you consider that the writer knows that these are real snuff movies, it gets even more scary. And THEN he finds a demonic looking figure observing the killings in each of the super 8’s he finds, so he is also investigating that alongside a mysterious symbol.

He learns that every crime depicted involves a child member missing, not only the recent family murder. He also learns that a very old cult is involved, that deals with child sacrifices and this demonic symbol is supposed to devour the missing children, or something.

Jonas, an expert in the occult and demonic phenomena tells Ellison the writer that the symbols are that of a pagan deity named Bughuul, who would kill entire families so that he could take their children into his realm and consume their souls.

Okay, but what about the scary scenes such as the creepy figure in the woods, the ghostly hands touching Ellison and the decaying missing children appearing near him? Is the writer going mad, or is this black magic playing?

As he patrols his house with a baseball bat in the night and sees his camera playing once again, well , the next day happens soon after. After the obvious foreshadowing big argument scene involving the husband and wife, the final night is happening. 

Ellison hears sounds coming from the attic, and he discovers the 5 missing children there, and Bughuul appears as well. He orders his family to leave the god damn house with the car, and gets stopped by the police officer who appeared early on.

After getting a bill, he promises his wife that he will stop writing his book. Discontinuing the investigation on the murders and help from Jonas entirely, deleting the files, he shockingly finds the box of old 8mm films back in his old house, of which he thought he had burned at his new house already. 

Upon approaching it, he discovers that these are the “extended cut endings” towards the snuff films. He still proceeds to try to view the old extended endings. The deputy agent, another cop, calls again and Ellison picks up.

A twist is revealed; every family that moved into the murdered family of each snuff film gets murdered next. It then becomes really sinister as I approached the ending together with the writer. I’ll stop writing here, I obviously was immersed by Sinister.

The music deserves special mention as well.

Rating: 8.0