Every year at SXSW there is one screening that generates a buzz throughout the festival and that is the Super Secret Midnight Screening. What exactly is the screening? No one knows until the film actually starts. This year it was anyones guess. People thought it would be The Avengers since Joss Whedon was in town, others felt it would be Wrath of the Titans, I personally thought it was going to be Hunger Games, but like usual, we were all wrong and it was actually a horror film staring Ethan Hawke called Sinister. The crazy thing was that they only let about 105 badge holders into the screening so it made seeing the film that much more exclusive.
Sinister was co-written by C.Robert Cargill from Ain’t it Cool News and Scott Derrickson who also directed the film. The basic premise of the film is simply “Whatever happens to the guy who finds the elusive found footage?” and Sinister tells us just that. The film really goes back to the basic of the classic horror genre and focuses on the creepiness of dark houses, strange noises and mind tricks.
In Sinister, true crime writer Ellison (Ethan Hawke), moves his wife and two kids into a new home that was previously the sight of a gruesome homicide/kidnapping/missing person. The reason he moves to this house is because he is having financial problems and hasn’t been able to deliver a solid book since his last hit years ago. He decides on this house as an attempt to use the gruesome history as the subject for his new book. Once settled 
into the home, strange things begin to happen to pretty much everyone in the house. Ellison soon finds a box in the attic with an old film projector and a few home movies with different dates on them. In hopes of learning about the prior family and what happened, Ellison begins watching the films which show the family and their horrific deaths. After watching the first film, he soon realizes that each films show a different family and how they were murdered. Ellison soon begins researching the connections between the families and soon learns the shocking connection between them.
Sinister was hands down the scariest and most shocking film I have seen in quite sometime. Anytime you have creepy little kids, you have the ability to scare the shit out of people. Though the film was shot on a very low budget, the execution and score give it a blockbuster horror feel. The interesting thing about the film was that Cargill stated during the Q&A that he had a nightmare about the opening sequence and that he found that footage in a box up in an attic. Once you see the film, you will realize, the dude has some pretty F’ed up dreams.
Overall the film was a huge surprise to myself who went in with no expectations at all. When the film comes out in October, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it killed it at the box office. This film will give you nightmares and stay in your mind for days to come. I strongly recommend any fan of horror films or anyone who wants a great original shock film to see Sinister. You will never guess that this was Ethan Hawke’s first horror film, based on his performance.
Rating: Original horror film that will leave you with many sleepless nights. 9/10
Recent Comments