Sinister.

If you're wondering why this is now it's its own post...well mainly because it's still in theatres and since I have other horror recommendations, I decided to take this out and make it its own post, then go back and build upon the other recommendation post. But yes that does mean this review is somewhere between my normal reviews and a mini-review, sorry about that. Enjoy!

As said Sinister is a brand new horror movie, currently still in theatres. You know the film is good, because the mainstream critics actually praised this film! I guess the critics were surprised as me, a brand new horror film that is scary and doesn't rely entirely on jump scares? Mental! Although the film hasn't made it out completely unscathed, a lot of negative criticism came around typical horror movie stupidity with characters doing things no normal person would ever do, which is a problem I had with the film as well.

And what did I think? I want to say in advanced, this is a negative review, of a film I actually quite like. The problem is, the negative things give me much more to talk about than the positive and this review is an adaptation and expansion on a mini-review, which covered the main points - most of which happened to be negative, it does create a bit of a mess when written out like this but...what can you do? You were warned!

The film doesn't make a whole lot of sense as it is, but the more you sit there and think on it, discussing it with friends and what have you, the more the thing practically falls apart and my experience with the film while actually watching it was slightly marred by the fact I was in a cinema, the bass and sound was so loud I was less scared of being well...scared and more frightened of the pounding headache all the jump scares induced. Jump scares are annoying anyway, but adding physical pain to them doesn't improve the experience in any sense. It also didn't help that everyone in the screen I was in talked basically through the whole film and spent their time kicking the back of my chair. I know that isn't the films fault, exactly, but films are made for the cinema - being in the cinema was part of the experience and I spent most of the film wishing I was on my own, undisturbed by people, in a place where I could turn the fucking bass down.

The annoying thing as well is how unnecessary they are. Jump scares are for hacks who don't have a good scary story or any sense of how to build up the tension or atmosphere. And although there aren't a lot of them, there are still enough to be a pain - especially towards the end, and the film already has the great central scary story, it has the tension, the visuals, the atmosphere, the jump scares just left me groaning and begging 'why', it undermines an otherwise great horror film. I mean no one likes them, leave them out, for fucks sake.

And in the end, with all the repetition, the film really did start to become a bit of a drag. Once you've seen one night time sequence, you've basically seen all this film has to offer. By the second act the film Sinister had me rolling my eyes going 'here we go again' as soon as the night rolled in, time for another brain achingly loud bass thump, yay! This film is so enjoyable...

It creates a really strange balance too, the execution is so incredibly repetitive and formulaic and yet the actual central story is fascinating and pretty unique as far as I've seen. Like it's a well put together film, with lots of interesting visuals but a lot of the scares outside of the snuff film novelty, feel oddly bland considering what is going on within the film itself.

The story isn't perfect thought either. It is played as a mystery...kind of, but the question of the supernatural is never really raised, we pretty much have to either accept something supernatural is at play right near the beginning or simply not trust anything our protagonist sees or says, like so many characters do around him. I was still kind of holding out that it was all a delusion though, especially considering just how silly this film got by the end. I mean don't get me wrong the central mystery is intriguing and well paced, but I did feel the thing did start to fall apart a little in the third act and when it all does come together, you'll really be surprised by how little any of the movie actually makes sense with the ending they go for.

It's a shame too, because despite all the things wrong with Sinister, it isn't devoid of good things. It's extremely stylishly put together, the super 8 snuff films and the truly bizarre soundtrack make for some really quite frightening, twisted and shocking moments. And in lots of places the film is downright terrifying without need for those fucking jump scares. Plus, if you take the story for what it is, it is a really quite original, enjoyable little mystery that moves along quick enough to really keep you hooked through another repetitive night sequence, although I was less than impressed with how it all ended.

So do I recommend it? Sinister is not without problems, you don't really realise just how much until a long time after the film has finished - but I suppose it says a lot it sticks in your mind that long. I'm just happy it isn't another found footage borefest. In the end it's a pretty healthy blend between Paranormal Activity and Insidious (yes producers from both films worked on this) as long as you don't question it too much (and take some earplugs!)

Think About It!

-Locke