I always get pretty pumped around October because I love scary movies. I'm not talking Saw or Hostel because those aren't scary. They're torture-porn. And while seeing a human being being chopped up can be fun occasionally, it's not good cinema. I'm talking horror. I'm talking literally being so scared your heart is pounding, you're biting your nails, you're screaming when something spooky happens that you didn't expect. Unfortunately, a lot like comedies, there's only one or two good ones each year. Maybe I'm difficult to scare, but I really respect a movie that can keep me from blinking or breathing in anticipation of what is going to happen next. The Paranormal Activity movies succeeded in this cause. Even last year's Insidious was effectually creepy. But, this year... not so much. House at the End of the Street, The Apparition, The Devil Inside, The Possession, even Chernobyl Diaries failed to execute a proper "scary" movie. The closest thing to actually creepiness was The Woman In Black. Now, one week before the fourth Paranormal Activity jumps to theaters, we've got Sinister.
There is so much that works about Sinister beginning with the writing. From even the first few minutes, it's easy to tell that a lot of thought was put into the script. It's not compiled of stock characters that are there simply to die in an already programmed order of deaths. These are real characters with real internal and external conflicts. Ethan Hawke plays Ellison Oswalt, a true crime writer, who, because of his job, has relocated his family in the town of an unsolved murder/missing child's case. He's looking for his next big break. His previous book, Kentucky Blood, written ten years prior, that earned him his fifteen minutes of fame and fortune, has fizzled out to its last penny. Now, he's looking to reclaim some of the benefits and recognition. While researching the case, having moved his family into the same home the family was murdered in, he finds a box of super 8 home movies with other family murders on them. After capturing the photo of what appears to be the killer, supernatural forces start to arise inside the house. Finally, Ellison learns that a deity named Bughuul is responsible.
It is definitely a creepy movie. Bughuul is a freaky sight to see and the paranormal occurrences in the house do keep you on edge, but it seems that for every moment in the movie that delivers true terror, there's something else that snaps you back to reality. It's 50% terrifying, 50% disappointing. Like, for instance, Bughuul is creepy and drives fear into your heart, but the ghosts of missing children walking around look like they've been put in cheap stage make-up. Ellison's son suffers from night terrors, and in one scene emerges from a box backwards, making you wonder... okay is it night terrors or something else going on? I wonder how this is going to tie in to the rest of the story. Then, it doesn't. It's not talked about again. And the ending. No spoilers here, but the ending is very anti-climactic. A good horror movie should be a lot like a balloon. Start deflated, then slowly build it up to size. Then, once it's reached it's maximum capacity of air... POP! That's what Paranormal Activity does so well. It starts off slow, then builds and builds and builds and finally when the tension is so great you can't stand it anymore, BOOM you're in the climax of the movie. With Sinister, it's like the balloon is slowly being blown up little by little, then when it's only around halfway full, someone got bored and just deflated the balloon by letting it fart out the rest of the air. The movie ends right when it seems its about to get good.
But, like I said earlier, there are still good moments of creepy tension (including one particularly frightening scene involving a lawn mower). Because the writing of the script is so well done (other than the mother's interactions with the children-- seriously, why can't anyone write parental/child conversations anymore??) the audience is invested in the characters. They want to follow Ellison and his research of the case all the way to the end. But, in the end, the execution wasn't exactly what is recommended in a successful horror movie. It's abrupt ending is just too much for me to fully enjoy the movie. However, it is the best horror film of the year, so far, but that isn't saying that much about the rest of the horror genre in 2012.
C
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