Sinister *** (2012, Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, Fred Dalton Thompson, James Ransone) – Classic Movie Review 4814

Co-writer/ director Scott Derrickson’s implausible but satisfyingly twisty and scary 2012 British-Canadian-American supernatural horror film Sinister (written with C Robert Cargill) finds a good star role for Ethan Hawke as fictional washed-up true-crime writer Ellison Oswalt, who discovers a box in his otherwise empty attic containing a scorpion, a projector and reels of Super 8 home movies that puts his family in mortal danger.

Oswalt has moved his unsuspecting family into a house in the fictional town of Chatford, Pennsylvania, where he knows a horrific crime previously took place – a family was murdered by hanging in the backyard – and begins researching the crime to write a new book. He hopes to discover what happened to 10-year-old Stephanie Stevenson, who disappeared after the murders. The snuff movies he finds in the empty attic suggest that the murder he is researching is the work of a serial killer dating back to the Sixties.

This is all very bad news for Oswalt’s wife Tracy (Juliet Rylance), their 12-year-old son Trevor (Michael Hall D’Addario) and their 7-year-old daughter Ashley (Clare Foley).

[Spoiler alert] Footage reveals other crimes across America involving families murdered by someone off camera, and one child from each family is missing. However, it turns out the kids all watched the home videos, were possessed by a child-eating demon named Bughuul (aka Mr Boogie), and committed the murders. Ellison enters the attic and finds the missing children there.

Despite its irritating reliance on lame jump scares and tired horror movie clichés, it still stays scary and sinister, with an eerie atmosphere, capable direction and a fine intense star turn by Hawke. Christopher Young’s score and Christopher Norr’s cinematography are assets too.

Sinister takes its place as one of cinema’s creepiest attic movies.

Also in the cast are Juliet Rylance, Fred Dalton Thompson, James Ransone, Michael Hall D’Addario and Clare Foley.

A sequel, Sinister 2, was released on 21 August 2015.

Co-writer C Robert Cargill supposedly got the idea from a nightmare he had after watching The Ring (2002), during which he discovered a film in his attic showing the hanging of a family, and Sinister is obviously influenced by that hit movie.

It was shot in autumn 2011 in Long Island, New York, for $3 million.

The Super 8 segments were shot on actual Super 8 cameras and film stock.

The film is a US, Canada and UK. co-production.

It premiered at the SXSW festival on 10 March 2012, was released in the UK on 5 October 2012, and in the US on October 12. It was a big hit, grossing $87.7 million against its $3 million budget.

The cast are Ethan Hawke as Ellison Oswalt, Juliet Rylance as Tracy Oswalt, Fred Thompson as Sheriff, James Ransone as Deputy, Michael Hall D’Addario as Trevor Oswalt, Clare Foley as Ashley Oswalt, Nick King as Bughuul / Mr Boogie, Victoria Leigh as Stephanie, Cameron Ocasio as BBQ Boy, Danielle Kotch as Lawn Girl, Ethan Haberfield as the Pool Party Boy, Blake Mizrahi as Sleepy Time Boy, and Vincent D’Onofrio as Professor Jonas.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4814

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