Film Review: "Sinister" (2012).

"Once you see him, nothing can save you." This is Sinister. This supernatural horror film directed by Scott Derrickson, and written by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill. The film follows true-crime writer, Ellison Oswald, who is in a slump; he hasn't had a best seller in more than 10 years and is becoming increasingly desperate for a hit. So, when he discovers the existence of a snuff film showing the deaths of a family, he vows to solve the mystery. He moves his own family into the victims' home and gets to work. However, when old film footage and other clues hint at the presence of a supernatural force, Ellison learns that living in the house may be fatal.

Cargill says that his inspiration came from a nightmare he experienced after seeing The Ring (2002), in which he discovered a film in his attic depicting the hanging of an entire family. In creating a villain for the film, Cargill conceptualized a new take on the Bogeyman, calling the entity "Mr. Boogie". Cargill's idea was that the creature would be both terrifying and seductive to children, luring them to their dooms as a sinister Willy Wonka-like figure. Cargill and co-writer Scott Derrickson ultimately decided to downplay the creature's alluring nature, only intimating how it manipulates the children into murder. In further developing Mr. Boogie, the pair had lengthy discussions about its nature, deciding not to make it a demon but rather a pagan deity, in order to place it outside the conceptual scope of any one particular religion. Consequently, the villain was given the proper name "Bughuul", with only the child characters in the film referring to it as Mr. Boogie. By late September 2011, Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, James Ransone, Fred Thompson, and Vincent D'Onofrio were cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and wrapped in late October. Filming took place in Long Island, New York; and Los Angeles, California. The super 8 segments were shot first, using actual super 8 cameras and film stock, in order to maintain the aesthetic authenticity of home-shot super 8 footage.

The film stars Hawke, Rylance, Ransone, Thompson, and D'Onofrio. Impassioned performances were given by the cast, especially Hawke. Hawke projects intelligence, determination and resourcefulness that carry the movie nicely. Though by the second half of the film, Hawke and D'Onofrio were utterly wasted perhaps because the script didn't bother to give them both character arcs.

Aside from a shaky final act, Sinister is a very scary and very fun supernatural thrill ride. It depends on characters, atmosphere, sneaky happenings and mounting dread. This one is not terrifically good, but moviegoers will get what they're expecting. The strongest analogue for the second half of the film is one that the filmmakers probably weren’t trying for: it feels like a less poetic version of a James Wan fairy tale. If there's a complaint to be made about the film, it's that the film's second half is unable to live up to the impossibly high standards set by the first half.

Simon says Sinister receives: