Warning: A terrifying number of spoilers lurk below!
Sinister does a fabulous job at setting the scene, switching the lights off and putting us through several nights of sheer hell. A strange soundtrack adds to the suspense as we watch tech-savvy Ellison Oswalt piece together facts and figures from creepily grainy footage of gruesome deaths. It's just that, as with almost every single spooky or ghost-orientated film that's been made in the past couple of decades, the ending is not as scary as it thinks it is and actually sort of ruins all the good stuff that comes before - and it is really very good stuff.
Ellison Oswalt is a man writing a book about grizzly tales that have taken place in the house he's just moved his family into. So, that's a nifty and original way to get a character delving deeper and deeper into crazy shit nobody in their right mind would go anywhere near without it seeming too forced. His British wife, Tracy (who sounds like she's trying to sound as British as is humanly possible) adds a rare emotional element to the story that's not often found in horrors. There's a scene where she and her husband argue, stomp about, shout and get sad for what feels like a lengthy ten minutes. It's unheard of! And the best bit is that you're not thinking you're being short-changed or wondering why you're watching Eastenders when you want to be shitting your pants. Instead, it all adds to the amount you care for these two characters and their kids. They have a story, they're in a predicament and the reasons why they're in it are all quite believable. They're not just conveniently thick as an excuse to get them faffing about in lofts. They are all, however, deaf. Ellison is the only member of the family who can hear incredibly loud bangs echoing through the house. It is a complete mystery why his wife, son or daughter don't wake up whenever he decides to fall through the ceiling, or down a ladder, cursing as he goes.
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| "Jumanji?" |
The closer you get to the finish line, the more you realise it can't possibly work out in the end - it's going to flop, finish on a dud scare that does nothing but frustrate you. That's exactly the way it goes, but right the way until it proves you and your pessimistic view on horror movies right, you're almost convinced that it might just do something gobsmackingly clever and blow your mind - and maybe even make you pee your pants a little. Sinister is clever from the off and comes across as being super confident in the story it has to tell. It feels no need to chuck about pointless scares to try and keep the chavs in the back row satisfied - it takes its time, has us follow an investigation into strange events led by Ellison and the quite marvellous Deputy So and So, and gets eerie enough for the scares to actually matter.
The most chills you'll feel down your spine should be at the introduction of Mr Boogie, if that's his real name, and his first visual appearance. That's when you begin to realise that there's an interesting mish-mash going on here, mixing up three kinds of stresses - the stress that our main character's family will be slaughtered by some sort of mad man, then the stress that they'll instead be slaughtered by some sort of terrifying demon and then, to top it off, a horrible combo - the stress that they'll be slaughtered by the mad man who'll be at the command of said terrifying demon. The movie has all this ammunition and teases us constantly - which path will it take? Well - sorry to say - it takes an unexpectedly shoddy route.
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| Somebody should tell him he's facing the wrong way. |
Children are just not as scary as Hollywood seems to think they are. Sinister is full of little kids running about a darkened house who look as though they've had their faces painted for Halloween. Then, the film develops this cringe-worthy 'motif' where each and every child puts their finger over their lips and goes, 'shhh...' at the camera. These kids also have a nasty habit of huddling together and walking towards the camera is unison - they're trying to be sinister, but they end up looking extremely choreographed, as though they're in a really awful school play. We'll nod, "Yes yes, get on with it, let's get to the meat of the story," but apparently the children are the meat of the story. Fuck. This. Shit.
Sinister will suck you in, force you to scoot up on to the edge of your seat and it'll make you flinch more than once. It's great at spooking you out and creating a freaky atmosphere - its formula is nearly perfect. Even when the twisty story finally begins to fall into place and make sense it does still work, but then the children take centre stage and everything becomes average and bland.
There comes a point where it seems as though Ellison and his family will escape, unharmed and go on to live happily ever after. Although a peculiar end to a menacing horror movie, if Sinister had decided to quit while it was ahead and finish up there instead of 15 minutes down the line, it'd all have probably worked out for the best.
★★★☆☆
Roo