Sinister

2012 Directed by Scott Derrickson

Once you see him, nothing can save you.

Found footage helps a true-crime novelist realize how and why a family was murdered in his new home, though his discoveries put his entire family in the path of a supernatural entity.

Ethan Hawke Juliet Rylance Vincent D'Onofrio James Ransone Fred Dalton Thompson Clare Foley Michael Hall D'Addario Victoria Leigh Blake Mizrahi Cameron Ocasio Danielle Kotch Ethan Haberfield Nicholas King Tavis Smiley Rachel Konstantin

Alternative Titles

Sinister 1, Found Footage, Untitled Scott Derrickson Project, Siniestro 1, Lanet

thriller mystery horror

110 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Erik Nordgren ★★★ 1

“there’s only one thing worse than a rapist..”
“a child”
“no-“
Review by DirkH ★★½ 13

Part of Dastardly Difficult December: film nr.81
If only......
If only they had managed to continue the messed up creepiness of the opening shot.
If only they hadn't decided to trade in the first act's subtle scares for the LET'S ACCOMPANY EVERYTHING WITH LOUD SOUNDS scares.
If only Ethan Hawke had gotten better material to work with (as is, he makes this thing slightly watchable).
If only it had actually been sinister.
If only the creepy kids had actually been creepy instead of looking like they had a mild rash.
If only they had left the 'How to stuff your film with Tropes' at home.
If only....
Review by Logan ★★★ 6

This didnt really age as well as I thought it would tbh.
It has a good storyline, good jump scares but the story starts to linger due to the length of this film. I still enjoyed it on the rewatch but I loved it less than I did the first time imma be honest
All the tapes are the scariest part of this film and I find that excellent
Review by SilentDawn ★★★½ 8

65
Ethan Hawke reacts to creepy super 8 footage and strange noises. All it takes for an effective horror film. Killer soundtrack, and genuinely disturbing.
Review by Hollie Horror ★★★★ 25

I went into Sinister months later than I had anticipated, I had wanted to watch this on the big screen when I was visiting my family and friends in the U.S. at Halloween ('12) but it did not happen. I am almost thankful I watched this at home, in the dark with only one other person. I am not sure it would have had the same effect on me had I watched it in a theater full of loud Americans. I am also thankful I did not watch this alone. That's right, Sinister scared me. This is an extremely rare and welcomed occurrence.
Going into a film with so many mixed reviews is always exciting for me, there is an…
Review by Ava Davis ★★★½

ethan hawke's mind in this movie: true c RIMEEEEE AHHHH TRUE CRIME I DONT NEED MY WIFE OR MY TWO PIECE OF SHIT CHILDREN I HAVE THIS COOL TRUE CRIME HOUSE WOOOOOHOOOOO SUPER 8 FILM TRUE CRIME TRUE CRIME TRUE CRIME HAHAHAHAHAH I AM THE BEST WRITER EVER STEPHEN KING BETTER FUCK OFF Haha! Wooooooooooo!! Wait never mind we have to move bye-bye deputy so-and-so
Review by matt lynch ★★★ 1

Features an almost 1:1 genuinely creepy/deeply silly ratio.
Review by liam f ★★★½ 2

nothing warms my heart more than seeing families hang together
Review by josh lewis ★★★★ 3

can't say for sure why i enjoy revisiting this one so much but it's been on my spooktober watchlist every year since it came out--between derrickson's lens, hawke's performance and young's score something about this just clicks for me. there's an interesting thread in here about the inherent complicity of snuff films (that lawnmower tape is the one that gets me every single time) but derrickson ultimately succeeds by grounding his stylish scares in the failures of fathers... maybe not the best modern horror film but probably the most underrated.
Review by Matt Singer ★★★★

Does every thing in this movie hold water? Mmm, probably not. Did everything in this movie scare the shit out of me? Mmmm, yeah kind of.
Review by CinemaClown ★★★½ 8

From the director of The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister marks director Scott Derrickson's second stint with the genre of horror & is an impressive improvement over his debut chiller. It might not have reached the dizzying heights of the genre masterpieces when it comes to storytelling aspects but it nonetheless accomplishes its goal of scaring the audience in a pretty impressive manner.
Opening with an 8mm footage of a family being killed by an unseen figure, Sinister concerns a true-crime writer who along with his family moves into the very house where a disturbing crime once took place in order to help his research. The plot is set in motion when he discovers a cache of snuff films in the…
Review by amaya ★★★ 1

the thing that i found the most unrealistic in a movie that features literal ghosts was the main character zooming on super8 footage and getting crystal clear pictures like it's IMAX or something trust me i tried and that shit should be BLURRY

Recent reviews

Review by Chris Hernandez ★★★★

hella scary
Review by sithsbucky ★★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

White man profiting off of the murders of innocent people, he deserved what he got. The tapes were cool, but the ‘entity’ made me giggle. The kids were scarier than the actual demon.
Review by Dursun ★★★★

sinister is the scariest movie i have ever watched. I wish I could lose my memory and watch it again and again. I was really freaked out when I watched the movie and I couldn’t get over it
Review by IsmaelAlzola ★★★

Uno de los proyectos cinematográficos más conocidos del director que dirigió años más tarde "Doctor Strange" (2016), donde la condición de ser un escritor polémico se presenta como síntoma de peligrosidad en una familia.
Con la finalidad de volver a escribir otro best-seller basado en crímenes reales, el éxito cosechado años atrás será un obstáculo, tanto desde el punto de vista argumental como desde el aspecto psicológico, estableciéndose como un previo pesadillesco de lo que se avecina. Son también sus hijos los que empiezan a ser víctimas del temor que lo atormenta, describiendo este suceso como manifestación del conflito psicológico por su incapacidad de recobrar el éxito. Aquí empieza lo macabro.
El personaje es víctima de su nostalgia, le obsesiona…
Review by juan anjos ★★★

por isso não quero ter filhos
Review by Eric Cartman ★★★★½

This movie is quite sinister haha
Review by Thomas 🤟🏽 ★★★½

With a creepy premise and a harrowing performance from Ethan Hawke, Sinister left me unable to go into my kitchen for a late night snack.
Review by Brad ★★★★½

I love Sinister. I went through a phase like two years ago where I’d watch it like 2 times a week for whatever reason. Ethan Hawke is awesome in this and really sells it on the stressed husband desperate to make ends meet stereotype. I also really like Bughuul, our antagonist. You don’t see him too much or in too long of glimpses constantly and I like that. The scares are good too, and that lawnmower scene is one of the best I’ve seen. Great watch, give it a shot.
Review by Catmum ★★★★

A horror worthy of it's place within the genre! The term is often loosely used but certainly not always deserved these days.
Great storyline. Good lead in Ethan Hawke with some creepy backup from the Deputy Sheriff!
Lots of great gore along the way. The hanging scene really got to me 😨
This is so worth a watch.
Review by Jace ★★★★

Back in the day I loved sitting back and listening to Spill.com, especially their movie reviews and their A Couple of Cold Ones (ACOCO) and when I heard that C.Robert Cargill (known as Carlyle) made a horror film I automatically put it on my list to watch.
I went in cold not watching the trailer, just going off the poster it looked chilling from the exterior, however when I watch the movie, from the first frame this movie went from chilling to the very thing that nightmares are made of all the way to the final shot.
This movie was not only one of the best horror movies to come out that year when we were getting alot of watered down, borderline dark dramas that were coming out but this is one of the top horror movies of the decade.
A solid lean piece of horror that I'll recommend to any horror fans.
Review by Lordan1el ★★★★½

*** ESPECIAL DE TERROR OCTUBRE 2020 *** 3/31
Sinister o Siniestro como la conocí
Película donde conocemos a una familia donde el padre es un escritor de terror y se muda ala casa donde ocurrió un asesinato para poder inspirarse a escribir un gran éxito porque a tenido una mala racha que lo esta llevando a la pobreza.
Encuentra una caja de peliculas de super8 (viejisimas) y encuentra que en cada una esta grabado un asesinato pero asi es como comienza toda esta pelicula que es mi favorita de terror.
-Mr Boogie esta muy bien hecho, te da mucho miedo
9/10 muy buena
Review by anthonymerlo ★★

James if you're reading this, this was not scary whatsoever