Sinister
Sinister (Momentum)
I am, truth be told, not really a fan of films that revolve around the supernatural, metaphysical or entities from the other side. Actually, that’s not really true, I like the subject matter, but the subject matter doesn’t like me. Blood, guts, gore and more I can take any amount of, but ghosts, spirits, poltergeists and demons? They scare the hell out of me, but that’s why we go to see these films in the cinema isn’t it? To be scared damn near out of our minds, to be terrified and frightened, to lose all sense of reality and start confusing the fantasy that we’re seeing on the big screen with the mundanity of everyday life. To be shocked into thinking these things could happen, that they might happen, that they have happened. Like its famous predecessors, ‘The Exorcist’, ‘Poltergeist’, ‘The Blair Witch Project’ and to a lesser extent, ‘Paranormal Activity’, ‘Sinister’ does exactly that, it does exactly what a good horror film should. It terrifies you. Ellison Osborne (Ethan Hawke), a true crime author desperate to write another bestseller, moves his family (unbeknown to them) to a house where a family of four were recently murdered by being hung, a family whose youngest daughter, is still missing. Convinced he can solve the crime, that he can succeed where the police have failed, nothing and no-one will stop Ellison from discovering the truth and writing his new book, a book that he’s sure that will set his family on the path to easy street. At least, he was convinced until he stumbles across a box of home movies, a box of old 8mm films that show the murder in all its grizzly glory, and as he settles down to watch the old films, he realises that it’s not just the one murder captured in film, these movies contain multiple murders, all linked together. The more Ellison investigates, the digger he deeps, the closer he gets to the horrible, awful truth, a truth that once discovered, can never be forgotten, and it’s a truth that neither Ellison nor his family will ever escape from. Blending elements of ‘8mm’, ‘Cigarette Burns’, ‘Poltergeist 2’ (the REALLY frightening one) and ‘Insidious’ together with a original and chilling take on supernatural horror and fuelled by an incredible lead performance from Ethan Hawke , ‘Sinister’ is the most fun I’ve had being scared since Carol Anne invited the TV people to come play, and it’s a film that’ll stay with you for a long, long time. I think I’ll be sleep with the lights on tonight… Tim Mass Movement
