Sinister (*** out of ****)

I've said it before and I will say it again, Horror films are in a strange point in their history. Torture porn, remakes, and franchises are what make money now a days. So it's oddly refreshing to see a horror film like Sinister come along. It is most certainly original, but uses familiar scary movie mechanics. Whether that is a positive for individuals is up for debate. Sinister however works very well with what it set out to be.

Ethan Hawke brings weight to a role of Ellison, a one hit wonder crime novelist. He plans on writing a new novel based on the murder that occurred in the house he and his family just moved into. In the attic he finds a box with several "home videos" a projector in it. He soon finds out that the videos are of several murders cause through a malice entity.

Sinister operates in a world darkness, loud noises, startling images and so on. The jump scares are pretty effective, but it's not too hard to create such a scare. The film does create a rather dangerous atmosphere however. Tension builds wisely in some scenes that do realize how maddening the events have become. One major positive is the music. It is sickeningly disturbing and is fully enjoyable in all the wrong ways. Sinister has fresh mechanics (the super 8 reels being the highlight) but perhaps a more terrifying creature would've been better. Up close it looks like a metal head has been up for too many nights. Still for what it's worth, Sinister might be the scariest mainstream film of the year.

*** out of ****