Review: SINISTER (2012)

6.5 out of 10.


SINISTER (Horror/Rated R)is the latest effort from writer/director Scott Derrickson. It premiered at festivals internationally and was released in the U.S. on October 12, 2012.

Ethan Hawke plays true-crime writer Ellison Oswalt, who moves his wife and kids into the house where a family--minus a daughter, who vanished--was hanged to death. He is researching a book on the murders, which will either make or break him, both personally and professionally. He hides the fact that the house (specifically, the back yard) was a crime scene from his own family, at one point twisting words to deceive his wife. His earlier books have caused them to be ostracized by members of the law enforcement agencies and communities about which he writes. They are in dire financial staits. In addition, his boy suffers night terrors influenced by Ellison's subject matter.

In the attic, Ellison finds a box containing a Super 8mm projector and canisters of film. They appear to be home movies and are labelled as such, but turn out to be snuff films shot by the killer(s). Each reel spotlights a different family, including the one murdered in the back yard. Ellison, apprehensive about the response from local police, decides to investigate on his own.

Over the course of the next few days--as he obsessively watches and re-watches the snuff films--Ellison discovers that the crime scenes are marked with occult symbolism and being observed by a mysterious figure. He recruits the help of a young star-struck patrolman and a college professor who specializes in the occult. A series of revelations, late in the film, put Ellison's family in worse jeopardy than he could have imagined; the final piece, however, comes too late for him to prevent what he has set in motion.


PROS

SINISTER offers an alternative to the current spate of laughable found-film horror movies. Although there are a few cheap jump-scares, Derrickson focuses more on creating atmosphere and slowly building toward the revelations.

The cinematography, by Chris Norr, is effectively unsettling most of the time (two of the snuff films, in particular, are so ghastly that they're difficult to watch--due not only to their content, but to the manner in which they were filmed).

The score by Christopher Young is excellent, often including tribal, primeval-sounding percussion and vocals.

Ethan Hawke gives a solid performance throughout, which becomes better and more intense as the film progresses. Fred Dalton Thompson is good as the Sheriff. As is Vincent D'Onofrio (uncredited), who tones down his goofiness to play a serious-minded and concerned professor. Comic relief is provided by James Ransone as the Deputy, but he never takes it so far that it breaks the spell. The portayal of Ellison's children, by Michael Hall D'Addario and Clare Foley, is capable and, at times, rises to match the intensity of Hawke's performance.


CONS

Ellison doesn't seem to have much of genuine reaction to the odd occurrences and coincidences that pile up during the first part of the film (I'd lay the blame for this at Derrickson's feet, not Hawke's).

The role of Ellison's wife Tracy, played by Juliet Rylance, is paper-thin. One-dimensional at best. Her dialogue basically runs: "I'm here for you. I've always supported you. If things go wrong, I'm gone. But I'm here for you. You know I'm here for you. I've always been here for you..." And so on. We never get to see past this. Rylance does what she can with the material, but it's asking a lot. (Come to think of it, Juliet Rylance has the only adult female role in the movie, if you discount the bit/cameo parts: mothers in snuff films, a reporter, a partially-glimpsed companion hovering around D'Onofrio. Too bad Derrickson and his co-writer, C. Robert Cargill, couldn't have given it more weight.)

The make-up FX occasionally look as if they were achieved with a Dollar General Halloween Kit (which doesn't bother me, really--I'm  a sucker for low-budget FX).

Some of the big moments intended to scare are riveting and surreal, but not scary. Others simply fall flat. Most of the ones that do frighten are in the trailer, which undercuts their potency.


FINAL WORD

I recommend SINISTER. It tries to be something different and crawl under your skin and often succeeds at both. You can spot influences (MANHUNTER, DIARY OF THE DEAD) but the like elements are adapted in novel ways. Don't expect too much. Just find an off-peak showing with a small audience, sit back and let yourself be given the creeps for 110 minutes.