#PopCultureResolution - Sinister

 

Sinister

Director: Scott Derrickson

Length: 109 minutes

Cast: Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, James Ransone

Release Date: October 12, 2012

Synopsis: True-crime writer Ellison Oswald (Ethan Hawke) is in a slump; he hasn't had a best seller in more than 10 years and is becoming increasingly desperate for a hit. So, when he discovers the existence of a snuff film showing the deaths of a family, he vows to solve the mystery. He moves his own family into the victims' home and gets to work. However, when old film footage and other clues hint at the presence of a supernatural force, Ellison learns that living in the house may be fatal.

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The type of horror movie that usually doesn't work for me is anything in the paranormal genre. The ones that scare me are typically the ones more rooted in reality.  Naturally there are exceptions and when a movie in this genre works for me it tends to really work. 

Sinister worked, for me, because it starts out like any murder mystery would. A family is dead and a character wants to uncover what happened to them. Add in some effectively creepy home movies and I was definitely unsettled. 

The casting of Ethan Hawke in this was what I was most interested in. Him watching exceedingly horrific home movies and reacting to them was more than enough to create a solid sense of dread and unease. It is this character unraveling that instills the tension. So much of the movie is him with the projector but more than does its job of creating the atmosphere.

These home videos are, in my opinion, the most unsettling part of the movie. Once it gets into the myth and lore behind everything it becomes your standard paranormal horror movie that does boast a twist that I did not see coming. This reveal, which puts the last puzzle piece in place, was what made this be one of those paranormal horror movies that worked for me. I won't spoil it but it made everything just a little more creepy and tragic.

The answer to if this was scary or not is a resounding scary but in the fun way. It would have been fun to experience this with a theatre full of people reacting to the jump scares and plot reveals. It is that kind of horror movie and if that sounds like your kind of thing I recommend checking it out.