MPAA Rating: R/ Genre: Horror/ Stars: Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, Fred Dalton Thompson, James Ransone, Clare Foley, Michael Hall D’Addario, Vincent D’Onofrio/ Runtime: 110 minutes
I feel it must be said that here lately in the world of cinema that the genre known as horror is finding itself needing to get more and more creative in its execution in order to continue to get viewers. This is because in all honesty the crazy killer running amok in the woods and hunting down a group of horny teenagers well has for all intents and purposes run dry. Thus as a result we are now beginning to see a lot more utilization of modern-day tech as well as concepts and ideas starting to pop up in this storied genre. Indeed for all intents and purposes there are just as many of “found footage” films now, which started most likely with The Blair Witch Project in 1999, as there are that feature Pinhead, Jason, Freddy, and Michael combined. Yet while there are some films in this subsection of horror that have the possibility of being wonderful and time-honored classics, with both of the VHS anthology films proving to be quite unique, even these particular films are proving to decrease in terms of luster and audience desire. Thankfully we now have a movie called Sinister which is a combination both of those iconic horror ideas as well as the “found footage” style that has been popping up here lately and manages to utilize them to wonderful effect. However when you combine these things alongside a engaging story as well as terrific work behind and in front of the camera, and you are left with a nightmare that promises to terrify people for years to come.
The plot is as follows: Sinister tells the story of an author of true crime novels by the name of Ellison Oswalt. Oswalt, we quickly learn has one best-seller to his name, but his more recent endeavors have left a little bit to be desired. Thus, in an effort to reclaim his former glory, Oswalt has recently relocated his family, unknown to them, but not to him, to a home where recently a ghastly tragedy has occurred. A tragedy that horrifically consists of the previous family to live there being hung in the tree in the backyard with the exception being the youngest child who has eerily disappeared. However upon getting everything all settled, Ellison locates within the house a mysterious box of 8mm reels as well as a projector in the attic. Upon sitting down to watch them in his office, Ellison horrifically discovers they all contain footage of an assortment of homicides that are from the 1960’s all the way to the present, and one of the reels contains the very murders that he is investigating. Yet as Oswalt, with the help of an intrepid Deputy, begins digging deeper into the reels of footage, it isn’t long before he realizes that he might have just walked head-on into a supernatural nightmare with terrifying implications for him and his whole family….
Now just looking at it on the surface and no deeper than that, I can definitely see how this movie could give off the vibe that it’s just like any other ol’ horror film out there today. Yet even I was surprised by just how much more there truly is to this film. Indeed from an idea as well as subject point of view, this movie is not the most original film by any means. With that being said though, I definitely feel that this movie’s director most assuredly counteracts this by offering audiences both arresting work in the visual effects department as well as a soundtrack that is purely and simply unnerving. Perhaps most unnerving and chilling is the film’s opening where we see a family being hung from a tree with no indicator as to who is committing this heinous act whatsoever. Suffice it to say that from that point on the audience is plunged into the nightmare head-on.
Now in regards to the otherworldly aspects that manage to be a prominent part of this film, they do seem to be a little bit familiar, but at the same time it does add a distinct wrinkle to the proceedings that occur. With that being said though the aspect from this film that I would have to admit unnerved me the most would have to be the footage from this film’s fictional string of murders. I mean I might be alone in this, but I have always found the concept of a killer actually filming their murder chilling right down to the spine even if the footage is false. I mean just the action of killing someone else can be an awful, but then to film it is just outright….well, for lack of a better word, sinister. With that being said, I definitely feel that what is shown of the filmed murders in this movie is disturbing, appalling, but most horrifying of all, terrifyingly convincing. Thus by being able to convey these things all at once, a movie-going audience is able to acquire quite similar emotions as Ethan Hawke’s character thus making it a little bit easier to get inside his head space and go on this nightmarish journey with him.
Now in his first ever go-around in a horror film, screen veteran Ethan Hawke manages to bring an electricity and a magnetism to his performance that is easily one of the best I have seen in a horror film in a while. Also doing a fantastic job is Juliet Rylance as Oswalt’s incredibly patient but always on the verge of being completely and totally exasperated by him and his antics even though it’s clear she loves him passionately wife as well as Clare Foley and Michael Hall D’Addario who do a terrifyingly genuine job as their kids that here lately have been the main thing that is helped to ensure that the family is able to stay together. We also get wonderfully dependable character work from Fred Dalton Thompson as the town’s bullheaded sheriff who isn’t the biggest fan of Oswalt to begin with and has decided that he will have nothing to do with this pesky author from destroying anymore of his town’s quite blemished reputation as well as an appreciated sense of sly and subtle wry comic relief from James Ransone as a deputy who finds himself becoming Oswalt’s official sidekick in his investigations.
Now the various effects teams on this film are top-notch and able to produce absolutely wonderful results. Now I know that for a horror film, fantastic visual effects are always a significant element for their success, but the problem seems to then become that the filmmaker gets addicted and does way too much. In addition there are moments where CGI and magic done in post-production can most assuredly move the story forward where it needs to. With all of that said I thankfully can say that isn’t necessary or an issue with this movie. That is because Sinister really does, from an effects perspective, feel like a horror film made “back in the day” and it really increases just how much the audience is willing to invest in what is going on. Indeed it starts with the cinematography department as we get to see that they do a wonderful job of trading in the typical hand-held shots for ones done on a non-moving tripod set-up, but also utilizing some slow-moving shots that would make Hitchcock proud, and some perspective following shots that enable this film’s target audience to really get in the mindset of the protagonist and really feel his ever increasing unease and terror at the situation. Plus thanks to the every now and then subjective perspective angle, the movie goer gets the opportunity to feel that they are literally in this nightmare with the characters. In addition the lighting that is set up within the set of the house, where the majority of the terror-tinged shenanigans occur, is wonderfully not as relevant and filled to the brim with lovely interactions between light and shadow. Indeed quite often throughout the film Ellison is showcased in silhouette, thus being able to cover-up the dark corners in the house that might be hiding a potentially terrifying little secret.
Now the music for this movie is phenomenal in how it is a terrific mix consisting of a unique score as well as songs from indie bands that the filmmakers behind the film all love. Now usually when a movie gets made if you want to put in music from an outside source, the cast works with elevator music while the producers are negotiating to get permission to use the songs they want to use and then they add those songs in during post-production. With this film however, the director and the production team were actually able to buy the rights to the songs that they wanted before they ever started shooting thus enabling the cast to work alongside the music that was actually going to be used in the final assembling of the film. Indeed it might not seem like it, but this makes a huge impact especially when a screen veteran like Hawke is able to act with the music that this film’s audience will also later hear in the film and as such it really creates a unique link between the movie goer and the actors that you don’t normally get on a film like this.
All in all I have to admit that Sinister was quite the unique and wonderful surprise for this reviewer. Indeed it may not offer bucket loads with regards to originality, but at the same time it is a movie that is both riveting and eloquent in equal measure and manages to handle its cast in a manner that is quite elegantly done. In fact I can’t really say that this film terrified me as much as it unnerved the daylights out of me. To be fair while this film does have a fair amount of the usual jump scares that most horror films seem equipped with, I was more chilled to the core and shaken not stirred by the dire atmosphere that seemed to envelop this film from the word go. Indeed it really did make for an enjoyable viewing experience especially for a fan of the horror genre who quite simply just doesn’t scare as easily as he used to. On a scale of 1-5 I give Sinister “2012” a 3.5 out of 5.
