Sinister

Scott Derrickson has levelled up quite favorable as a filmmaker over the years. Starting off working as a writer or director on projects like Hellraiser Inferno, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Day the Earth Stood Still and Deliver Us from Evil, Derrickson would evolve from a niche horror director that usually got middling reviews but still turned in a strong profit, into one that became more widespread after he directed the 2016 Marvel movie, Doctor Strange, and the 2021 horror film, The Black Phone, which were both critical and commercial successes. Now heading in a stronger direction and developing a better understanding of how to portray horror, his first big shine in the limelight that arguably helped change how people viewed his work was the 2012 Lionsgate horror film, Sinister. True crime writer, Ellison Oswalt (played by Ethan Hawke) moves to a new town in order to write a new book about a recent unsolved murder of a family that, unbeknownst to his wife Tracy (played by Juliet Rylance) and his children, Trevor and Ashley (played by Michael Hall D’Addario and Clare Foley), happened in the very house they’re now living in. Hoping that this will revive his dead career, Ellison dives headfirst into this case, discovering a case of Super 8 films in the attic that appear to showcase the gruesome murders of the family he’s researching, as well as others from years prior that share similar methods of ‘execution’.  Learning that this case goes far deeper than expected, Ellison learns that these killings all involve a murdered family, one child always ends up missing afterwards, and all the videos seem to feature a strange entity in the background that is believed to be a pagan deity known as Bughuul, who is known for murdering families and devouring children. As the situation seems to get worse and worse and strange happenings seem to be occurring to his own family that tie back to the past murder cases, Ellison might have unknowingly served his family up as the next victims for this unstoppable demon. Though Sinister wasn’t a huge hit with critics or audiences, it made a profit at the box office with $87.7 million against a tiny $3 million budget, was reviewed more favorably than Derrickson’s past films, managed to get a sequel released in 2015 (which fared even worse than this film did) and has become a cult classic in more recent years, proving that despite the movie’s clear shortcomings, it left an impression on those that did seek it out.

Originally coming about from a nightmare that screenwriter and frequent collaborator of Derrickson, C. Robert Cargill, had suffered, the idea for the film feels like a very traditional set up for a horror film of the era, with an unassuming family moving into a new location unaware of the supernatural horrors they will be forced to deal with. The movie did face some criticism for its lack of originality in regard to its very cliched narrative (especially for a horror film in the 2010s), and even though the film concludes in a manner that could be seen as atypical for the formula (it’s not a very happy or clean conclusion), even that doesn’t feel that unique in terms of execution or delivery. This makes a lot more sense when it’s revealed that the film was distributed by Lionsgate (whose only rise to fame in the horror space was through franchises like Leprechaun, Cube, Hostel and most notably Saw, which had their moments, but weren’t really known for their high quality), and produced by Jason Blum and his production company, Blumhouse (who are known for producing a high amount of low budget horror films in quick succession which have a 50/50 chance of being entertaining and memorable or wasteful and ridiculous), putting this film in a pretty bad spot out of the gate. One of the key problems is just that the script isn’t very strong, with Derrickson and Cargill having a screenplay that relies too heavily on a singular idea, intense visuals (from certain perspectives) and a creepy vibe instead of unfolding anything that engaging or new from a storytelling perspective. There’s so many horror cliches featured that it leaves little room for new ideas, and without anything new to bring to the table, it just feels like another pile on the heap of several soulless horror films of the time. The exposition is forced, the dialogue can sometimes get un-ironically funny in parts, and while the final twist is okay, it isn’t strong enough to make it feel like it warranted a final ‘’got-ya’’ moment. The reason the film isn’t as bad as it could be is that Derrickson does demonstrate his capabilities as a director, as even if his works isn’t always the best, he does know how to pace a scene out well, which could also be said for the movie as a whole. While the scenes don’t really have good scares, they have decent build-up, and you can feel him trying to build an atmosphere in these moments even if it isn’t the most engrossing. You can see how his work could be improved upon later, so while it isn’t the best showcase, it’s a decent first demo reel.

Most horror movie characters have to be pretty stupid in order for their stories to work. It’s become a trope in the genre for the characters to do something completely illogical in order for the narrative to continue existing, but since modern filmmakers now try to make their characters act realistically in these situations, it makes these decisions all the more noticeable and laughable. Ethan Hawke’s character in this is a real idiot and pretty much does everything that shouldn’t be done when it comes to dealing with a situation like this (from both a supernatural and even realistic viewpoint). There is a sense of desperation in his character which can explain away some of his choices regarding remaining in the house and following up on this mystery, but there are several times throughout this film that just feels like blind idiocy. The role is very much driven by a selfish desire to be famous again, but the amount of danger he constantly throws his family into (whether in a theoretical social manner or just in a general life-threatening way) all so that he can get another book out, makes him pretty unlikeable. The acting is at least good, with Hawke portraying the stereotypical work-obsessed father with just that right amount of crazed hysteria to be a bit more interesting than the norm. It isn’t overblown to the point of being over-the-top but has just enough dramatic instability to be noticeably abnormal. Most of the acting is pretty good from the small cast that it has, even from bit parts like Juliet Rylance, James Ransone, and an uncredited Vincent D’Onofrio, who are doing the best they can with very little. The kids are a little flat, but they only really exist to say basic lines and look creepy with outdated make-up, so you can’t be too harsh on them. What can be criticized is the character of Bughuul, and how poorly he is constructed and utilized. Despite being the main threat and built up as a figure that was meant to sustain a franchise, he doesn’t make for a memorable killer, as his lack of dialogue, limited screen time, lame jump scares, and generic manner of killing his targets makes him very forgettable as a threat (not helped by the fact that he looks like a death metal Muppet).

You can feel the film had a small budget due to the limited cast, the minimal locations shown outside of a singular house, and its choice of scares which rely much more on off-screen suggestions rather than on-screen brutality. Despite the content in some of the reels being quite disturbing and uncomfortably brutal, none of them are really gory, so it finds an interesting workaround to keep the high rating without needing to go overboard with gruesome effects. The movie was actually filmed with a Super 8 camera and film stock, not only adding to the authenticity of the footage but also to the mood of the film as well, as the quality and general nature of these kind of films can lead to some unpleasant experiences. Even though the movie does get unnerving in parts (particularly in regard to those ‘’home videos’’), it is definitely not scary due to the lame tricks they pull which makes it feel way too conventional. There are a lot of jump scares present, which are to be expected, but they feel so forced and unnatural that it’s clear they only exist to jolt a scare out of someone rather than do it naturally. While people may think it’s effective at its job, all it’s doing is creating a situation where anybody would be forced to jump due to the extremely loud and violent music and an abrupt unexpected image. With context ahead of time and with a lower volume setting, these scenes don’t feel scary at all, which is something that a horror film should never have to deal with. Several times throughout the film, it can feel very outdated due to how they present certain scary scenes, coming across as random and even funny for the wrong reasons (there’s a scene involving some ghost kids stalking Ethan Hawk, and it’s a lot funnier than it probably should be). There are a few decent shots done by cinematographer Christopher Norr that make this house as basic as it is, look pretty claustrophobic in moments, and even though it looks like at the beginning that there are going to be a few too many gimmicky shots that feel out of place, they stop pretty quickly, and it thankfully continues in a very straightforward fashion. The music by Christopher Young can sometimes ruin a moment by overplaying itself during a time that requires silence (which feels like a common issue with Blumhouse horror films), and when the film uses ambient tracks from bands like Ulver and Aghast (who are within the Norwegian black metal scene), it really feels out of place.

Sinister may not be the best movie, but the best way to approach it is as the turning point in Scott Derrickson’s career. You’ve got to learn from your shortcomings and grow from them, and considering where he’s at right now, he appears to have done pretty well given his rocky beginnings, and it’s great to see that level of improvement from any creative. Sadly, this doesn’t mean the film is good in any shape or form, and while stronger than some of his past work (some of those earlier films are pretty terrible), it hasn’t aged very strongly in the modern age and leaves its audience with very little to be surprised with. The acting is decent, and the atmosphere has some merit to it, but the story is limp and unimpressive, the writing is generic and packed with cliches, the characters are pretty stupid, and the scares are non-existent once you’re allowed to be in a place where sound isn’t blaring in your ears. Not awful, but not necessary for the collection, only check this out if you’re really curious.