Sinister,” staring Ethan Hawke and directed by Scott Derrickson, is the new horror movie about a crime novelist finding a box of home-footage of a family who was murdered in his home. Producer of the “Paranormal Activity” films also helped create this film, giving the expectation that this new thriller will indeed be a good horror flick. Months after the murder of a family of four, Ellison Oswalt (Hawke) moves into the family’s home with his wife, Tracy (Juliet Rylance) and their two children. Oswalt discovers the mysterious and very disturbing home video. Hoping to regain the artistic ability he once had to research and write a successful story, Oswalt envisions the scary history of his new home’s past as his golden ticket to creating a great bestselling book. Eventually, these videos put his family through a dangerous nightmare of supernatural horror as he tries to figure out how and why the family was murdered.
Most of the film is done in a way that has the audience thinking that they know what will happen next. Although it is done with enough imagination, the tensions and suspense of the film still pierces right through a person, sending chills down their spine. No scare is the same, and viewers might jump a few times, but the eerie feeling throughout the film is what will also have audiences on their toes and watching to the end.
Hawke does an excellent job at playing this character. He genuinely seems afraid of what is happening to him and his family, performing with such believability that the viewer watching gets scared as well.
There were a few things that were executed poorly. Derrickson utilizes a few corny, cheap terror bits that have been seen way to many times in the past but at the same time it adds a classic feel to the film.
“Sinister” has a variety base of different forms of terror that will get the audience’s attention; the hair on the back of their necks stand up at the end of this movie because of the suspense. The movie features haunting imagery that will burn into viewers minds, which can only be summed up in one word: creepy. Overall, there is great suspense and chilling images that made the movie a good horror flick to watch this October.
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vcamargo@ramapo.edu
