Adam: Also, please pardon the appearance of this blog as we are still "under construction" and continuing work on the look and feel. However, it was high time we kicked this thing off with some reviews, so without further ado, here are our reviews of Sinister.
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Sinister, seen and written about by Riley Noonan
The month of October has been dominated by horror movie franchises for years. First, it was a geriatric with a thirst for puppets, tricycles and turning human bodies into applesauce in Saw and its predecessors, and now it is the strange goings-on of white suburbanite households and their ghostly inhabitants in I Don't Know How She Does It. I mean the Paranormal Activity series. The troubling thing about these horror franchises is that they give the genre itself a very mediocre reputation. They often slam the door in the faces of smaller, creative solo efforts.
Sinister is probably going to be just that smaller creative solo effort that is ushered out of memory once Paranormal Activity 4 comes out in a couple of weeks, but I'm already certain it's scarier. It might just change your mind about messing around with demonic entities, a fair warning to all of the adventurous youth out there who take Halloween as an excuse to bust out the Ouija boards or investigate abandoned houses on the edge of town.
The film makes great effort at establishing a relatively likable cast of characters, ranging from the washed-up true crime writer to the daffy deputy with a good heart, and the suspense is strong, as most of the story takes place inside the main character's new home. In fact, the entire movie takes place in this one house (save for the final fifteen minutes). The mood is a spooky one, and once the main character discovers a box of snuff films the mood evolves into something much more chilling and relentless.
My gripes with Sinister were born out of a bitter experience I had in the movie theater. I saw the film in a theater full of raucous seat-shifters who texted and laughed inappropriately and Shh'ed me when I Shh'ed them. But they did scream at the jump-scares, so I assumed none of them had seen the trailer, because almost every jump-scare in Sinister is in the trailer, unfortunately. Also, the film relied heavily on the creepiness of children, and I personally believe horror movies should stop doing that. Children are not scary. Especially if the child actors aren't the greatest at line-delivery.
But don't let my grumbles about the 'scary child-contrivance' trick you from treating yourself to this film. Gripes aside, Sinister frequents a heavily unsettling atmosphere thanks to its strong lead performance in Ethan Hawke, its off-kilter side-characters, its genuinely creepy soundtrack and the intelligent decision to not show much of the evil Bughuul (aka Mr. Boogie), the gothic, clown-faced deity whose presence is the definition of the film's title. Many modern horror movies that deal with demons and creatures sabotage themselves by showing far too much and relying on a modest make-up job to frighten audiences. It's still makeup. The unknown will always be more terrifying than the known and the shown, and for the most part, Sinister gets it right by only revealing periodic flashes of Mr. Boogie.
A horror flick that is worth the admission price, Sinister scores with disturbing sequences and a refreshing sense of humor. However, I pray there will never be a sequel, and that some day the horror movie genre will be restored back to a reputation of originality, and not continue its truly unfortunate public downfall with sequels, prequels and remakes, oh my. This film certainly makes a case for the former, and if it performs better than the new Paranormal, we might just be on our way.
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Sinister? More Like WINister!
viewed, reviewed, and horribly titled by Adam Stutsman
For horror movie fans, the window of opportunity to see a scary film in a
movie theater is very small. There are maybe a few releases early in the year
(2012 had January’s god-awful The Devil Inside, Febuary’s chilling The Woman in
Black, and April’s brilliant The Cabin in the Woods), but apart from that, the
main killing time for horror movies is in August, September, and October (who
knew?). So when October came around and the best horror movie I’d seen this
Autumn was ParaNorman, I had a lot riding on Sinister (despite my being a huge
Paranormal Activity fan). It was time for another solid original horror film,
and Sinister definitely delivered.
Sinister is about a true-crime writer and his family, whom
he often uproots to move to different locations, where the crime he is writing
about actually happened. He fears he has hit his stride with his hit novel
Kentucky Blood that was released ten years previous, and he attempts tirelessly
to return to the limelight with no success. However, he has a good feeling
about this case of a missing girl, and decides to move his family into the
actual home of the murder victims…and only the writer, Ellison, knows this fact.
Needless to say, tensions are high from the beginning. But things only get
worse when Ellison finds a box of film in his attic, and on this 8mm collection
is a series of murders caught on film by an unseen killer. Seeing this as a
potential return to stardom rather than something to bother the police with, he
tries to uncover the truth behind the films and the missing little girl.
Now, before I write a love letter to this movie, I need to
say a few things. Firstly, I’m disappointed to say that a lot of the scary jump
moments are revealed in the trailer. Luckily the story and the more gruesome
scenes make up for this. Secondly, this movie isn’t without its faults. There
are some cheap scares and a plot hole or two, but overall this is a solid
horror film. And with how scarce a solid horror film has been in the past
decade, that is saying a lot. Thirdly, a complaint I’ve been hearing is that
people were surprised and disappointed that there are supernatural elements to
this movie. However, if these people had watched the trailer even once, they
would know that a major part of this movie includes a fake Pagan deity. I mean,
that’s in the trailer. It’d be like me getting mad because I didn’t know The Exorcist
was about demon possession. But I digress.
The strengths of this movie begin the moment the static is
heard during the production company logos, and the opening scene had me say
aloud “now that is how you start a
horror movie.” (Don’t worry, I was alone in the theater with one of my
co-workers. I’m not one of those
people that poor Riley had to deal with.) Then, without bombarding you with fictional mythology or silly noises
from the get-go, we get to know the family. As a writer, I very much felt for
Ellison, but definitely saw the wife and children’s side of not wanting to
relocate as well. The whole thing was very balanced in the sense that neither
side was overwhelmingly sympathetic or ostracizing. However, since Ellison is
the protagonist, we got to see the development of his obsession with the box of
film, as well as his desire to regain fame through his writing. This was more a
film about obsession than a silly Pagan deity, and it worked. But don’t write
off said spirit. Since the film doesn’t over-show the villain, his presence is
always terrifying whenever he is shown. He’s the kind of guy you expect to look
in your rearview mirror and see when you’re driving home from the theater. And
I’m happy to report, the cinematography was interesting and effective, and the
score helped rather than hurt the movie (more or less). The music was hauntingly
glitchy, and always kept me guessing without being distracting. Overall, I was
beyond impressed with Sinister and I definitely plan on seeing it again before
Halloween happens and we brace ourselves for a new batch of awful Christmas
movies.
Hadn't even heard of this movie, and now I really want to check it out. Thanks for the heads up!
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