Sinister (2012) Review

Sinister (2012)

Sinister follows horror writer Ellison Oswald, who, after moving his family into a house where the previous family was murdered, discovers a box of home tapes that detail theirs and other grisly murders, putting him on the path to be next. 

I’ll happily die on this hill, but Sinister is genuinely one of the most terrifying and inventive horrors of the 21st century and that’s aided by just how sadistic the film is willing to be. From that horrifying intro (a family being hung in their backyard), the tone is set early, that most of this film’s draw will come from just how far it’s willing to push you, and Ellison, before you break. It eerily takes the tension of found footage horrors and elevates it to another level, showing us vicious murder after murder, from lighting a car on fire, mass drownings, to even running over a family with a lawnmower, while subjecting us to dimly lit bumps in the night that combine all of what makes modern horror scary without all the jump scares. 

While I think they should’ve just left it at this, there’s also a surprising amount of world building here that really goes on to detail the Bughuul, or the Boogey Man, and how Ellison unwittingly threw himself into his path to be slain by his daughter. I’ll admit, the third act does get a bit corny at times, especially as we see the Bughuul and his victims more, but just the outright lack of a happy ending makes more than happy with the finished product.

We get a pretty solid cast too, starring Fred Dalton Thompson, Michael Hall D’Addario, Vincent D’Onofrio, Clare Foley, James Ransone, Juliet Rylance, and Ethan Hawke. Hawke is just excellent in this, representing all of the fear, shock, and horror that the audience is feeling, getting everything he wants and then some for his book, only for it to kill him. 

Sinister, directed by Scott Derrickson, is such a brilliant atmospheric, and truly gripping, horror that combines the typical haunting elements with gruesome found footage to craft a darkly sinister flick that will likely chill you to your core. 

9.1/10