Movie Review--Sinister

". . . Bughuul eats children.  Now the fragments of stories that have survived, they all revolve around him needing the souls of human children to survive."
--Professor Jonas, Sinister


Scott Derrickson, better known in some circles as the director of the later film Doctor Strange, is no stranger to the horror genre.  As a Christian, his affiliation with horror is more controversial to some, but as a filmmaker, he is right at home with the genre.  Sinister showcases his mastery of execution by sidestepping common genre pitfalls like having jolting musical cues every few minutes to accompany horror imagery.  At its best, the movie exemplifies exactly how horror can be more psychologically penetrating when restraint, subtlety, and characterization are the foundation.


Production Values

One of the financially valuable aspects of horror films is that certain stories do not require any elaborate CGI and yet they can earn multiple times whatever money was invested into them.  Sinister is yet another film that needs little more than a talented cast, practical effects, and a clever idea.  It falls on Ethan Hawke to carry much of the film, a task he performs with the aid of an atmosphere that consistently avoids the jumpscares of lesser films.  There are several scenes centering on Hawke's character that even a film in The Conjuring series would likely have peppered with jumpscares, but Scott Derrickson competently navigates viewers through such scenes solely by using smooth camerawork, strong performances, and the natural development of the plot.


Story

Some spoilers are below.

A crime author moves his family into a new home as he prepares to write a new book, intentionally picking a home associated with the murder of previous residents.  He discovers a set of film reels that reveal various murders connected by a strange symbol, a tendency for the killer to avoid physically strenuous murder methods, and a strange, potentially supernatural figure.  As he investigates the killings, a professor he consults with suggests that the symbol is related to a pagan deity called Bughuul (a deity contrived for the film's story that has nothing to do with a historically documented ideology).


Intellectual Content

As is the norm with many horror stories, the characters of Sinister brush up against epistemological and metaphysical issues they are often prepared to grapple with.  In one scene, the lead character openly admits his disbelief in the supernatural (which is asinine when one realizes that supernatural merely means immaterial and therefore nonphysical, as is the case with logic, consciousness, and the space that matter resides in) despite the increasingly suspicious events occurring in his house far into the movie.  Another character who professes to believe in the kind of supernaturalism that entails disembodied spirits tries to explain away his experiences as having nothing to do with demonic entities or ghosts, ironically confirming that neither character consistently lives out their worldviews!


Conclusion

Sinister is not crafted so that its core story stands apart from that of almost every other horror movie.  In this regard, it is not The Autopsy of Jane Doe or Saw.  Despite its superficial similarities to other horror stories, its acting, execution, and emphasis on atmospheric substance over jumpscares still certainly distinguish it from many mainstream horror efforts.  After all, there are only so many kinds of stories to tell, but quality filmmaking will always be necessary if a movie is to have technical soundness.


Content:
 1.  Violence:  Several murders are shown onscreen, though rarely is the film graphic.