Rated
R (Disturbing Violent Images and Some Terror)
Running
Time: 1 Hour & 50 Minutes
Cast-
Ethan
Hawke-Ellison Oswalt
Juliet
Rylance-Tracy Oswalt
Michael
Hall D'Addario-Trevor Oswalt
Clare
Foley-Ashley Oswalt
James
Ransone-Deputy
Fred
Dalton Thompson-Sheriff
Vincent
D'Onofrio-Professor Jonas
Nicholas
King-Bughuul/Mr. Boogie
Directed
by Scott Derrickson
 |
| Ethan Hawke discovers some amateur porn in the attic of his new house |
Has
Hollywood lost the ability to scare us? The last two weeks of August saw the
release of "The Apparition" and "The Possession" but the
former flopped (massively I must say) in the scares department and couldn't
even muster some cheap thrills while the latter simply ripped-off of "The
Exorcist," only it was dumbed down for the PG-13 crowd. The number of
horror films that have managed to strike a chord with me over the last twenty
or so years are small but now you can add "Sinister" into the mix.
Directed by Scott Derrickson and produced by Jason Blum (whose previous credits
include 2009's "Paranormal Activity" and 2011's
"Insidious"), the film mixes the serial killer, found-footage, and
haunted house subgenres to create something that actually fills you with a sense of dread and unease despite
treading some well-worn territory. I have to admit that the experience of
watching "Sinister" left me drained by the time the end credits
rolled due to the intense atmosphere that Derrickson has created. It serves as further
proof that horror isn't just about creating a sense of revulsion with blood and
guts but on reducing the audience to their baser instincts, to make them feel
genuinely afraid as they sit inside
of a darkened theater. "Sinister" does not rewrite the rules of its
genre and suffers from some truly hackneyed moments but it's a surprisingly
effective horror film that manages to feel fresh thanks to its disturbing visuals
and chilling sound design.
After becoming a household name with the release of
his book Kentucky Blood, true-crime
novelist Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) has been struggling for the past ten
years to replicate that same success but to no avail. For his latest novel,
Ellison moves his entire family to a small town where a young girl disappeared under
mysterious circumstances after her entire family was murdered by hanging.
Unbeknownst to his wife Tracy (Juliet Rylance), the house that her husband
brought is the same house where the
murders took place. Stopping by for an impromptu visit, the local sheriff (Fred
Dalton Thompson) expresses his dislike of a fame-hungry writer second-guessing
his department's investigation. Soon after he moves in, Ellison discovers a box
containing reels of Super 8 film in the attic. Each film begins as an innocent
home movie of a family gathering before suddenly cutting to them being brutally
murdered in various ways. One of the reels proves to be especially disturbing
as he sees a dark figure with a demonic face come into view. Believing he's
stumbled upon his own version of In Cold
Blood, Ellison becomes obsessed with solving the murders and enlists the
help of a star-struck deputy (James Ransone). Strange occurrences begin to
haunt the house and it soon becomes clear that Ellison and his family are in
terrible danger the longer they stay.
To horror veterans, much of what happens
in "Sinister" won't be a total surprise but what puts it a cut above
the rest is Derrickson's skillful use of horrific imagery, opening with grainy
Super 8 footage of a family being hung from a tree and setting the tone for the
rest of the film. Although there's a surprising amount of restraint with the
gore, there is one key scene that invokes a sense of morbid voyeurism that's
almost Hitchcock-like. During one late-night viewing session, Ellison watches
as the killer prepares to slit his victim's throats (each one bound to their
beds) but it immediately cuts to our haggard protagonist weakly closing his
eyes while the gruesome bloodshed happening before him is reflected in his
eyeglasses. Despite the effect these films have on him, he continues to watch
and so do we, tapping into our fascination with evil. Derrickson also
replicates the rough editing of Super 8 within the film to ratchet up the
tension. A creepy score from Christopher Young is overlaid with each flickering
reel, adding to its already tense atmosphere with a faint child-like chanting
and other deeply unsettling sounds, blurring the lines between music and sound
design.
The script from C. Robert Cargill does not feel like a supernatural
tale, at least not at first as the footage that Ellison watches is filmed as if
a serial killer was both documenting and
admiring his own work. This grounds "Sinister," allowing the audience
to buy into its more ridiculous aspects as it slowly unveils an interesting
backstory about an obscure Pagan entity known as 'Bughuul.' While the marital
drama is well-done, some of the dialogue can get downright cringe worthy, such
as a heated exchange where our beleaguered hero exclaims to his wife that this
could be his version of In Cold Blood.
The director also relies on jump scares a little too much, with Ellison
wandering around his house at night yet he never turns on the lights for some
inexplicable reason. The fact that his son Trevor (Michael Hall D'Addario)
sleepwalks and has night terrors makes carrying a butcher knife rather
head-scratching. However, we forgive this because the rest of
"Sinister" is so well-made due to its foreboding, slow-burn
atmosphere. This is a film that rewards patience and might even leave you
sleeping with one eye open.
"Sinister" is a one-man show, with Ethan
Hawke giving a convincing performance as a true-crime novelist who initially
wants to solve the murders to recapture his former glory but it soon becomes
less about the book and more on his insatiable need to know what happened to these families. Hawke's Ellison Oswalt is
arrogant and selfish yet he remains a sympathetic character, his research taking
its toll on his mental health and marriage as the film wears on. Although
underwritten, Juliet Rylance is fine as Ellison's long-suffering wife while
James Ransone provides some much needed levity as an eccentric deputy sheriff.
Vincent D'Onofrio also pops up, literally phoning it in through Skype. Premiering
back in March as a 'secret' screening during the South by Southwest (SXSW)
Festival,
"Sinister" will be released on October 12, 2012 and has
received largely positive reviews so far with 76% on Rotten Tomatoes. I
attended an advance screening this past Monday (which was packed and many
people were turned away) and the response was somewhat mixed. Thankfully, the
audience wasn't as rowdy given their usual penchant to provide their own audio
commentary. "Sinister" should do well at the box office this weekend
thanks to its effective marketing campaign despite three other releases
competing but it won't become the breakout success it hopes to be as
"Paranormal Activity 4" is opening a week later. Going in with
absolutely no expectations, "Sinister" really took me by surprise and
while it's hardly original, this is a horror film that succeeds in what a
horror film should do: scaring the
pants off its audience.
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