Sinister

Alrighty! Today's horror movie was Scott Derrickson's Sinister. This is a haunted house/demonic possession flick pretty rooted in the tropes of modern horror-- i.e. make-you-jump-suddenly-by-things-popping-up, evil-children-are-scary-and-out-to-get-you gags, and there's-a-spooky-figure-who-wants-you-dead type stuff. It isn't bad in any of those areas, just not necessarily surprising or brining anything particularly new to the table.

The movie follows a true crime writer  (Ethan Hawke) who moves into a house that was the site of a crime where a family of four were brutally murdered. He quickly discovers there is more to the story than he imagined and begins having spooky things occur around the house. The movie's main strength is in it's creating atmosphere, which is really well done and keeps you hooked in for the ride. It's unfortunate that the scares are so run-of-the-mill as it somewhat undermines what the atmosphere achieves; no scare ever feels like, even if it does make you jump, that it lives up to what the atmosphere was building toward. The idea behind the movie is intriguing as well (Hawke's character finding old Super 8s containing tapings of the murders) but is again somewhat undermined by an ending that I was pretty "eh" about.

Also, one last thing that bothered me: the very one dimensional characterization of the wife. She goes along with her husband at all times, no matter how much of a total asshole he's being and only caring for his own success. She is perfectly content to be submissive and say "Ok, honey, whatever you think is best" while her husband has only himself in mind. Even after her one token outburst she immediately goes to him, forgiving him and taking him to bed despite all he has done. She seems so much a caricature and for a modern film it was kind of unsettling.

All that said, the movie is good for some decent jumps but the more I think about it the more I see it's shortcomings. It has atmosphere, a good background, but it can't pay it off.

Oh, and seriously, this house has some soundproof-as-hell walls. Could ignite a bomb and no one would ever hear it... except Ethan Hawke.

6/10