Sinister

Sinister. No, not a film about Michael Bay’s impact on the history of cinema, rather the latest spook fest from the producers behind Insidious. In fact, if you’ve seen the trailer for Sinister it certainly bares more than a passing resemblance to James Wan’s creepy film from last year and, whilst trying not to give too much away, the main plot strand isn’t too dissimilar either. However, feelings of déjà vu aside, Sinister has enough to it to stand on its own two legs and, though it’s not as much fun as Insidious, it’s still a decent enough companion piece. It certainly grabs the attention from the start with a 30 second scene of grainy Super 8 footage (Spielberg et al rejoice!) showing a family being slowly hanged from a tree. You’ll unlikely to see an uneasier opening to a film for the rest of the year. We then move into the crux of the story where one hit wonder non-fiction crime writer Ellison Osborne (Ethan Hawke) and family move into a new house, during which Osborne discovers a box of Super 8 films in the attic. Dipping into one of the films, Ellison finds himself watching the aforementioned footage from the opening of the film. Though he was surprised to find the box (and subsequent murders on the other film reels), he isn’t surprised by the content as he has purposely moved into the house where the murders occurred in order to help him write his new novel about said crimes. Of course, nothing can go wrong with that idea, can it? To say much more will give the game away, but if you’re of a nervous disposition the film will give you the required scares and a general feeling of discomfort. More seasoned horror veteran’s enjoyment will hinge on how you feel the negatives weigh up against the positives. Some of the bad stuff is fairly annoying. To wit: Within the first two minutes of the film Osborne’s young daughter draws a sinister looking girl on her bedroom wall, but her parents seem nonplussed by it; Osborne spends huge chunks of the film meandering around the house at night chasing loud noises and falling through floors, but this never seems to disturb the other members of the family; the films best scare has already been ruined by the trailer and the “villain” bears an uncanny resemblance to the Predator. There’s plenty of good stuff though. Going back to Osborne’s nightly wanderings, most of the scares / jumps are utilised via resorting to the old standard of using the soundtrack. Old hat it may be, but I saw this in a colossal cinema with a spanking new THX audio system and it was still highly effective. Talking of the sound it’s also hats off to director Scott Derrickson (more of him in a moment) and composer Christopher Young for a highly effective soundtrack. The clever choice of songs employed during the Super 8 footage adds a further level of unease and Young’s main score is as catchy as it is bizarre. Talking of the murder clips they are grim stuff and some will find them highly disturbing, with the “Lawn Work” one a superb example from Derrickson of how to build up unbearable tension before the gruesome pay off. As for Derrickson himself he does a good job here and banishes the memories of his last outing, the abysmal The Day The Earth Stood Still remake from 2008 (John Cleese, anyone?), by moving things along at pace and not worrying too much about the rum parts of the plot. He also employs (intentionally, I hope) an outrageous homage to the most famous scene from Strangers on a Train. All in all there’s something for most people here who like their horror, but it’s a bit too dark overall and could have done with a light touch in certain areas that make films like, well, Insidious, such an enjoyable ride.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Derrickson’s experience on The Exorcism of Emily Rose helps him steer this through some of its sillier moments and he gives us a film that is unsettling for the majority of its running time. Rating: 7/10.