Review of Sinister (2012) by Thequietgamer — 29 Aug 2013

While it's one of the better horror movies I've seen, "Sinister" fails to bring any real scares. It's got a creepy tone, but it never manages to turn creepiness into terror. The plot about a failing true-crime writer trying solve a murder that the cops can't in order to relive his glory days is a good anchor point, and watching him do this at the expense of his family gives the film a certain bleak tone that sets it apart.

The movie is at its best when you watch the main character witness gruesome murders through these mysterious recordings, and seeing how it affects his sanity. These moments succeed because they have a sick and creepy voyeuristic feel to them, and also because they give the film a feeling of mystery that has you dying to know just what the heck is going on.

The movie suffers when the main character is investigating bumps in the night, which is disappointing because this usually happens right after the good parts. This is when the movie should get scary, but instead it lets us down.

Rather than providing a terrifying moment the movie gives us a lame jump scare, or even worse, nothing at all. Why the film chose to build up the tension only to let it fizzle out here is beyond me. But by far the most disappointing thing in the movie is when it finally reveals what is going on.

After watching the mystery build and build, and have you get more and more invested, it falls flat on its face an incredibly disappointing and un-scary reveal. It ruins the whole tone of the movie and even opens up one big plot hole, ending the movie in disappointment.

I haven't been scared in a horror movie in forever and "Sinister" was no different. The one thing that keeps the movie watchable is the fact that it is creepy, which is more than I can say for most other horror movies.

It's just a shame it never takes the next step to make it scary.