Sinister

PLOT (spoiler alert!!!):

The film opens with Super 8 footage depicting a family of four standing beneath a tree with hoods over their heads and nooses around their necks. An unseen figure saws through a limb acting as a counterweight, causing them all to be strangled.

Months later, washed-up true crime writer Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) moves into the murdered family’s home with his wife, Tracy (Juliet Rylance), and their two children Ashley (Clare Foley)– a gifted artist who is allowed to paint on her walls– and Trevor (Michael Hall D’Addario), who begins re-experiencing bizarre night terrors upon moving into the home. Only Ellison is aware that the house they are moving into was the crime scene. Ellison intends to use the murders as the basis for his new book, and hopes that his research will turn up the fate of the family’s fifth member, a little girl named Stephanie who disappeared following the murders.

Ellison finds a box in the attic, which contains a projector and several reels of Standard 8 mm footage that are each labeled as if innocent home movies. Watching the films, Ellison discovers that they are snuff movies depicting families being murdered in various ways, including having their throats slit in bed (Sleepy Time ’98), being burnt to death in a car (BBQ ’79), being drowned in their pool (Pool Party ’66), being run over by a lawn mower (Lawn Work ’86) and the hanging that opened the movie (Family Hanging Out ’11).

The drowning film proves especially disturbing for Ellison after he notices a demonic figure watching the drownings from the bottom of the pool before turning to look at the camera. Ellison eventually finds the figure observing the murders in each of the films, along with a strange painted symbol; inspecting the lid of the box containing the films, Ellison discovers numerous crude drawings depicting the murders, along with crude drawings of the demonic figure, identified as “Mr. Boogie.”

Consulting a local deputy (James Ransone), Ellison discovers that the murders depicted in the films took place at different times, beginning in the 1960s, and in different cities across the country. He also learns that the families were all drugged before being killed; and that a child from each family went missing following every murder. The deputy refers Ellison to a local professor, Jonas (Vincent D’Onofrio), whose expertise is the occult and demonic phenomena, to decipher the symbol in the films. Jonas tells Ellison 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.

One night, Ellison hears the film projector running and goes up to the attic. There, he finds the missing children in various states of decay, watching one of the films. Bughuul suddenly appears on camera before physically appearing before Ellison. Ellison takes the camera and the films to the backyard and burns them. Then he wakes his family to tell them that they are moving back to their old house.

At his old home, Ellison receives a message from Professor Jonas, who sends him scans of historical drawings associated with Bughuul; each had been partially destroyed because ancient cultures believed that Bughuul lived within the images, and that they acted as portals between his realm and the mortal world. Ellison then discovers the projector and films in his attic, along with a new envelope of film labeled “extended endings.” During this time, the deputy tries calling several times, but Ellison never answers.

The next time the deputy calls, while Ellison is assembling the films, he answers. The deputy informs him that he has discovered a link between each of the murders: Every family had previously lived in the house where the last murder took place, and each new murder occurred shortly after the family moved into their new residence; by moving, Ellison has placed himself and his family in line to be the next victims.

Ellison then watches the footage. He finds that it depicts the missing children coming onscreen following each murder, revealing themselves to be the killers before suddenly disappearing. Before he can react, Ellison becomes light-headed; inspecting his coffee cup, he finds a note reading “Good Night Daddy” and a green liquid inside the cup before losing consciousness.

Ellison awakens to find himself, his wife and his son bound and gagged. Ashley approaches holding the 8 mm camera, and promises him that she will make him famous again. Ashley then proceeds to murder her family with an axe, using their blood to paint images of cats, dogs, and unicorns on the walls. Her work complete, Ashley views the Super-8 film of her murders, which concludes with an image of the missing children watching her. Bughuul appears, causing the children to flee. He lifts Ashley into his arms and disappears into the film with her.

The film concludes with an image of the box of films in the Oswalt family’s attic, now accompanied by a reel labeled “House Painting ’12”.

REVIEW:

One of the guys at Spill.com is responsible for writing Sinister. Well, a former member of the Spill crew, that is. Skeptical didn’t begin to describe my initial thoughts, but what is my ultimate opinion?

What is this about?

After moving to a new town, a true-crime writer discovers a cache of videotapes depicting brutal murders that took place in the very house he just bought. As he tries to solve the mystery behind the crimes, a sinister force threatens his own family.

What did I like?

Creep factor. There are moments of creepiness throughout the picture, but a few really stick out, specifically the final act. I won’t spoil anything, but I will say that it is worth the wait for horror fans, as you will be on the edge of your seats wondering what will happen.

Deputy So and So. The police aren’t exactly helping Ethan Hawke’s character out. I forgot the reason why, but I believe it has something to do with after each of his previous books, the family having some kind of death occur. At any rate, the sheriff has made it painfully clear that he doesn’t want the same thing to happen to his town. Luckily, there is a deputy who seems to be a huge fan and is willing to defy the sherif, as long as he gets some kind of recognition in the book, such as “thanks to Deputy So and So”, hence the name.

Tone. There a dark and sinister tone here that many films of this genre don’t have. If you research the horror films of today, not many of them take care with the product they are producing, only the dollars that they are bringing in, which is why many of them are nothing more than total crap. Thankfully, this was made by people who grew up fans of the genre, have a respect for it, and know what people would like to see. Maybe Hollywood should take notice!

What didn’t I like?

Found footage. I will never be a fan of found footage films. They are just a lazy way of filmmaking, much like reality television. Why pay real actors to spout out lines than a writer worked months and months on, when you can just did up some half-ass video and stick it in your movie? Having said that, there is a point to the footage here, since it does relate to the story. Still, I’m not a fan.

Vincent. I have to wonder why it is they hired Vincent D’Onofrio to play the role of a college professor, yet only have him appear in webcam for a couple of scenes. Could this have something do with his Law & Order schedule (is he even still on that show?), or maybe they couldn’t afford to bring him in person, or perhaps he’s being held hostage somewhere, but the kidnappers let him film his scenes. Whatever the case may be, this wasn’t the best way to use him, especially when they could have just brought in someone with a cheaper price to play the role and do just as good a job.

Get to it, already. Rather slow-paced to start, the film never gets to meat of what it is until much later. Thank goodness for the few teases of scariness. Also, the big climax, which happens in the last scenes, doesn’t result in as big a payoff as the audience would like. I think it actually ends up being about 10 minutes, if that long, and then the credits roll. Basically, I’m saying that the pacing is horrible and ruin what could have been a really decent film.

Sinister has some sinister moments, but they come few and far between. On that note, for a couple of guys just getting their starts as Hollywood writers, this isn’t half bad. Truth be told, it really is better than most of the crap that studios end up throwing at us, including some of the Oscar nominees. Do I recommend it? If you’re a Spill.com or horror fan, yes, but otherwise, I wouldn’t really waste your time. This isn’t for you.

3 1/2 out of 5 stars