Film Review – Sinister

Sinister - Movie Review

Horror films aren’t usually my thing to go see at the cinema: I don’t scare easily and people that do kind of get on my nerves. But when I saw the trailer for Sinister it didn’t seem like your standard run-of-the-mill horror film.

The main character is Ellison played by Ethan Hawke (Gattaca, Dead Poets Society); a celebrated true crime writer whose last acclaimed book was 10 years previous and is looking to write another hit story.

He moves, with his family to a new house which happens to be the loacation of a crime scene. He finds a box full of family movies in the attic. These movies featured throughout the film and are part of Ellison un-ravelling the mystery of what happened in to the family who lived there previously. He quickly learns these movies were filmed by the killer and he has been killing families just like his for decades.

As his investigation deepens it becomes clear this is the story he was looking for to rekindle his fame, but it will cost him everything?

The tension is very well built and the spooks are void of cliché. The film is a little slow paced but this helps develop the characters and allows room for some delicate cinematography: the use of super8 film and reflections is particularly impressive.

A few things don’t quite fit, for a start Ellison is somewhat squeamish for a crime writer, there aren’t any lefties (in joke), and most importantly, who calls their son Trevor?

Sinister is a fairly decent horror film with carefully crafted scares, believable plot, the odd laughs and a pretty sinister killer. If you fancy a scare, I recommend it.

Louise Ceridwen

30yr old quote machine of doom! I like Books,Films, Gaming and Geekery. I have a lizard and attempt to bake.