SINISTER

Sinister (15)
Director: Scott Derrickson
Screenplay: Scott Derrickson, C Robert Cargill
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Juliet Ryance
Once you see him, nothing can save you

To say I was looking forward to seeing Sinister would be an understatement. The combination of a rather unsettling trailer followed by extremely positive early reviews raised my expectation levels sky high. After watching it, I realise that the hype surrounding the movie (and there has been a lot) has been a little extreme. The bottom line is this; Sinister is an effective and impressive horror film. But it is no more than that.

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​Director Scott Derrickson is best known for two films. The Exorcism of Emily Rose and The Day the Earth Stood Still.  A rather mixed bag to say the least. But Sinister is the film that looks likely to propel his career to the next level. And rightly so because although the film is far from perfect, the look and feel of it is uniquely terrifying. In fact, the vast majority of the film probably feels like a nightmare you once had - which is ironic as co-writer C Robert Cargill was inspired to write the film after a bad dream he had after watching The Ring.

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Frustrated writer Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) is looking to recapture the success of his first true crime book, Kentucky Blood – which was a hit over ten years ago. In his desperation he moves his young family to a house where he can work on his new writing project – investigating the brutal hanging of four members of the same family and the whereabouts of the missing family member, a little girl. However what Ellison has not told his own family is that they are moving into the house where the family lived. In fact, they were killed in their new garden.

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​Shortly after moving in, Ellison discovers a box of super-8 films in the attic. The movies all have innocent enough sounding names; Pool party, family BBQ, yard work etc. But Ellison soon discovers that the footage itself is a lot more sinister than the titles suggest.

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Ethan Hawke’s inclusion in this movie is something of a masterstroke. Well known Hollywood stars are only just starting to get involved with the genre and it’s a positive sign that an actor as well regarded as Hawke opted to star in a film as dark as Sinister. Hawke is in virtually every scene and although he is a character with many flaws, who seems to put his career before his family, he plays it in such a way that the audience still roots for him. That’s not an easy task.

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​Sinister is nearly two hours in length yet it feels as though it never sags. There is rarely a moment where the audience are not completely engrossed in what is on screen. It wastes no time getting into the story and once there the focus is so intense and strong that we feel as implicated in the plot as Hawke’s character himself.

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The found footage scenes provide some of the most unsettling moments of the film. But Sinister is ultimately a testament to how important lighting and sound can be. Especially in a horror movie. When Ellison wanders around his house in the early hours to investigate a strange noise (as he often does) it feels overhwhelmingly dark and some of the sounds we hear in Sinister are enough to make you jump out of your skin.

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​What's also impressive is that the story unfolds almost solely in one location. Ellison’s house. Yet the action never feels restricted, it never feels dull. If anything it only adds to the level of immersion and sense of claustrophobia. It feels bigger in scale than it actually is.



However, as the film goes on it slowly loses its effectiveness somewhat. A lot of skill and effort had successfully gone into creeping us out in the first hour, it’s a shame that the direction the film takes in the last forty five hinders it in its quest to be considered a truly great horror film. The further the story goes, the more we see (particularly little girl ghosts) and the film loses its edge a little.



The scariest film of all time? No.
But it’s still a deeply unsettling and engaging attempt.
Expect multiple sequels. Hopefully!