Director Scott Derrickson gives us his usual brand of potentially great horror in 2012's ultimately disappointing Sinister.
Ethan Hawke carries the film as a hack true crime writer that stumbles upon a collection of 8mm snuff films opening up a whole box of haunted problems for him. While it's Shining like story of obsession is intriguing, the film can't help but draw comparisons to the much more superior Insidious and falls completely short of it's frightening potential. There's some great sound design, a scene stealing performance from The Wire's James Ransone and some genuine creepiness coming off of the snuff films but ultimately the big baddie that looks like a cheap Immortal band member reject ruins it all.
2 paintings on the wall out of 5
3 comments:
Watched this one at the cinema. I've not seen Insidious so missed those comparisons but it still gets the same score.
I remember being impressed by the score and meaning to seek it out upon release but forget about it until now.
I did a little research on the score and as it turns out the best moments weren't actually Chris Young but The Boards Of Canada and Accurst.
...which happen to be quite difficult to track down.
I was not a fan of Insidious, so based on your review I decided to check this one out. I'll admit it felt a little cookie-cutter but in the end I enjoyed this more than Insidious. Possibly because I wasn't anticipating it so it couldn't let me down.
2.5 out of 5 from me.
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