Review of Sinister (2012) by Sarfaraz A — 09 Aug 2013

Sinister co-written (with C. Robert Cargill) and directed by Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) . Ethan Hawke stars as real Ellison Oswalt (a writer of crime incidents of supernatural activity) .

Sinister opens with Super8 film footage showing four people standing in the woods with nooses around their necks and hoods over their heads - an electric-saw cuts off a tree limb and with its weight hangs the victims. Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) a cime-writer moves into the suburban house of the victims where the murder took place, along with his wife Tracy (Juliet Rylance). Ellison believes that the story of these murders and missing of one family members might skyrocket his popularity just as it happened with his previous crime-book. He finds home-made movies in a box in the attic (reels of Super-8 film and a projector) - as he researches on these films bizarre facts unfold and horrible mysterious figures and activities are out to be faced by Ellison.

As big fan of horror genre, I make sure that I create climate (by turning off all lights, close all escape doors) that is quite suitable for enhancing the level of fear and shiver. Generally speaking, I was not expecting Sinister to be this scary. Plot of movie is so simple and yet so convicing - excellent composition of music-score as well as few handful of characters with prime actions to carry out. It's an excellent movie than the junk thrust into narrow holes of entertainment.