Sinister

The first scene of “Sinister” promises the creepy, inventive atmosphere that irradiates through the rest of the film.  A family of four stands under a tree heads bagged, nooses around their necks.  You start to wonder how they will hang when you notice without warning, the visual creeps into your conscious and when you see it you wonder how long it has been there, a power saw slowly cuts a limb off the other side of the tree.  As the limb disconnects from the tree it pulls the ropes, hanging the family.  That is the perfect way to start off this slow burning creep fest.  And that is how you grab my attention.

Not to say this movie is without flaws.  It has many.  The attempts to make the audience jump, for me anyway, were ineffective for the most part.  The worst was when Mr. Boogie jumped in front of Ellison’s face causing him to fall down the attic stairs.  Mr. Boogie looked fake to me, even though it was a quick shot, and I thought seeing him on the screen was creepier, which would have fit right into the tone of the movie.  Maybe have Boogie do something frightening on the screen.  I’m just spit-balling.  Boogie jumping into the screen was expected, at least for me.

Also, I didn’t notice it while I was watching (which is a testament to the power of tone and atmosphere), but Ellison doesn’t use light switches for most of the movie.  He prefers to run around his dark house with a flashlight.  For part of the movie they justified it by saying the lights in the neighborhood was off, but that is a flimsy excuse to use an old horror movie trope. 

All flaws aside, though, I really enjoyed this movie.  It wasn’t good at hiding twists or scaring me out of my seat, but keeping my nerves on edge for an hour and a half is no small feat.  This movie seriously landed on creep value.  The scene that sticks out to me is the scene where Ellison is walking through the house looking for whoever turned on the super-8 projector.  Ghosts of the lost children stalk him through the shadows and run off into darkness as he turns toward them.  This scene seriously sent chills up my spine.  How many times have you been walking through your dark house convinced that someone is just out of sight?  Plenty of times, don’t lie to me.

“Sinister” is one of the strongest horror films I’ve seen recently, built on atmosphere and strong characters.  Their interactions were so human I lost myself in that world.  Special props go to James Ransone for being my favorite character. 

I would definitely check out this movie if you haven’t already.  Watch it in a dark room alone.  Nothing beats the adrenaline of being scared out of your wits.

Have you seen "Sinister"?  What did you think?  Put your thoughts below and join the discussion.