REVIEW: Sinister

Horror films have always had an element of detective work in them. As the audience, we are usually presented with a monster and along with the characters, we are to try and work out the motive for being so evil.

However, most horror films reduce this to stupid teenagers (played by 20 year olds) who make the most ridiculous decisions when trying to work out the mystery. But Sinister sets out to try and make a serious horror investigation film aimed at horror fans.

Sinister follows family man, Ellison (Ethan Hawke) who had found fame 10 years ago as a true crime writer. Unfortunately for Ellison, his 15 minutes of fame has long past and he has since been reduced to writing trashier true crime stories. He has a history of moving his family, including his wife Tracey (Juliet Rylance), his son Trevor (Michael Hall D'Addario) and daughter Ashley (Clare Foley), into homes near to the scene of the crime that he is writing about. This time however, he takes it too far; he moves them into the actual house where the murder took place. As you can guess, seeing as this is a horror film, spooky noises start going bump in the night and Ellison is being warned away by not just the Sheriff (Fred Dalton Thompson) but also his Deputy (James Ransone). As Ellison starts making connections between seemingly random murders that sprawl across the USA, he starts to uncover something more sinister is at work behind them than what he first thought.

Before I start my review properly, I do have to praise Sinister for setting out to make a serious horror film that attempts to include a serious investigation into the crime and the forces behind the crime. It's a refreshing sight to see where the writers Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill had set out to try and seamlessly combine the horror genre with the crime genre, and it's a match that goes very well together. When Ellison finds the old Super 8 films in the attic of the house, I found myself being genuinely intrigued to see what the next murder scene would be and to try and gather the clues myself when I was watching it. The mood is set right at the beginning and the film is written and directed (again, by Scott Derrickson) in a way that captivates it's audience into trying to work out the mystery alongside the main character. I say this, because all too often horror films loose their element of investigation and intrigue in favour of shock and gore.

However, it's unfortunate that Sinister is let down by the fact that it doesn't seem to go anywhere. It's pretty obvious from the film's set-up that there is something... else behind the crimes and the killings of innocent families, so the fact that the film relies on this big reveal as it's plot twist is a little bit underwhelming. I could look over this obvious plot twist, but unfortunately the film doesn't really try to explain (in an interesting way) the forces behind the murders or at least a substantial reason why they are doing it. Instead, we are left to feel that the reason why the murders have been committed is simply because they are evil. Like I said, a little bit underwhelming. And finally, I obviously won't go into details about the film's ending, but it seemed to be a bit jarring and felt like we were cheated out of a final confrontation scene between Ellison and the force behind the crimes. The film just kind of... stops.

Despite having an underwhelming finale and an underdeveloped villain (things which I will admit, are fairly hefty flaws), Sinister still manages to create a very effective atmosphere in creeping out it's audience. Director, Scott Derrickson definitely knows how to craft together a suspenseful scene, because many a times I found myself waiting for the jump scare and expecting the tension to stop after the scare, only to find that the tension was still being built up afterwards. I felt like I could never let my guard down as soon as the sun went down and the last time I remember feeling like that was when I saw the first Paranormal Activity. It's what I want from a horror film; I don't want to be second guessing when the tension will be built up and I don't want to be sitting around impatiently for the jump scare to happen because I know I will be 'safe' afterwards. While some of the scares were a bit repetitive involving the thumping footsteps from the attic, they were still very well crafted.

A good scare is nothing without the music and another major positive for Sinister is that the original music by Christopher Young is brilliant. The slow build-up of sounds were captivating and I just found myself being absorbed into the story and the scares being sold on screen. I don't find myself often being so interested in the music of a film, because it's often said that good music, along with good editing, become background to the film that is being projected on the screen - it's only usually when it's done wrongly that it becomes obvious to the audience.

So, if you like your horror films scary and to be taken deadly serious without relying on boobs, blood and gore, then Sinister is definitely a film for you. It effectively builds scares and has a very strong build-up for three-quarters of the film, it's just a shame that the entire film is let-down by a lacklustre finale and severely underdeveloped main villain.

*** / *****