Review of Sinister 2 (2015) by Odjento — 23 Aug 2015

Sinister 2 is one of the worst horror films I’ve seen in a while, and the first horror film that has actually had me bored and not even in the least bit jumpy towards the last section of the film.

Sinister 2 follows up from the previous film with the deputy that helped Ellison Oswalt investigating the murders conducted by Bughuul, and to keep things short and snappy his investigation ends up leading him to the next victims.

Now the horror you can expect from Sinister 2 isn’t anything special or well thought out, it is another amalgamation of jump scares just like almost all other horror films that come out nowadays. However, the infamous film reels are back on display in this film but – albeit being more inventive methods of killing – don’t seem to come across with the same impact or shock value as the first films reels. Nothing recreates that lawnmower reel or the creepiness off the hanging reel that goes backwards. Henceforth, the real horror is not the scares in this film; it is the script. The dialogue is cringe-worthy and excruciatingly painful that I burst out laughing at times. It quite easily could’ve been written by a pretentious 14 year old kid who writes scripts for his mum and dad, of which they tell him it is “very clever” and “brilliant” just to please the child.

The script is not the only horror show in display though as the acting is something that almost put the noose around my neck. The deputy was too goofy for the role and almost seemed to be making quips like as if he was in ant man or something. The mother was mundane and the children were just typical child actors. The abusive father was overacted and also – referring once again to the script – an unneeded addition just made for increasing the run time of the film. To be quite honest though, if they decide to make another Evil Dead remake (I know don’t reboot it again like Spiderman) that the deputy played by James Ransone would make a great new Ash.

If I had to be honest though I did enjoy this film, but due to the fact I ended up seeing it as a comedy. Some scenes are so stupid, some acting is so bad and some dialogue is so awful that you can’t help but laugh at it; especially at a certain car collision scene.

However, this literally is the first horror film that has actually bored me. Insidious 3 wasn’t a very good horror movie but it still kept me watching and jumping from time to time until the end. Sinister 2 had me interested at first and then slouched and bored in my seat hardly moving an inch at the lazy jump scares towards the end. But with all that I can’t miss out the fact that this is yet another horror film with a terrible “cliff-hanger” ending. Why can’t we get good writers for horror films anymore?

Overall, Sinister 2 is a bad and unintentional horror comedy that does nothing to distinguish itself from the grey colour palette of the current horror genre. And lastly, the “twist” was once of the most obvious and unimaginative things I’ve witnessed in a while. It added nothing, and didn’t even try to make itself cryptic.