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…

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…

Sinister is a handfull of good ideas with sorely lacking execution. There's something lacking or obnoxious with almost every scene and it's a shame because the blend of found footage, urban myth and true crime could have made for a considerably more compelling film. Especially the use of super 8 segments. However, it turns gimiicky far too fast. A soundtrack that is just obnoxious and a little bit silly along with clearly sped up or edited footage (as if to say: lets hurry up and get to the spooky parts!) makes every jumpscare and every ounce of dread so clearly signaled miles ahead that the film is more of a slog than a horror film. The "twists" are visible almost…

There's a really good movie in here somewhere. Scott Derrickson directs the hell out of this. He loves filling the frame with darkness and forcing you to try and make out something terrifying within it. The snuff films are eerie as hell. The discordant score is really effective.

So why is this another creepy kid movie? And why does the script put so little effort into making anyone who isn't Ethan Hawke feel like a real character? There is rich territory to be mined about a fame-hungry asshole who uproots his family and subjects them to to ghastly horrors in the name of scoring another New York Times bestseller, but Sinister is more interested in manufacturing tedious conflict and mundane…