This movie is fucking scary. Like, I don't know what it is but I'm sitting here in the basement after just finishing it again and my adrenaline is still going. I watch a lot of horror movies. I mean, I always get a little extra spooked by paranormal movies because of the element of the unknown. I am a big gory/slasher fan primarily, but holy moly is this a scary movie. It makes sense why it was rated so well. But this means I'm happy. I like feeling scared. I like suspense and I like jump scares and this movie has plenty of that without being lame and cheesy. They show just the right amount of frightening imagery without it becoming lame or over-done. The movie is about a true-crime novelist who decides to move his family to a new town and a new house. The previous residents of this house were murdered - except one young girl who is still missing. I mean, the whole haunted house movie thing is 100% predictable. Like yeah, you move into the house and all these spooky things happen to you that happened to others before. Or you see the ghosts of the murdered people and they want revenge or whatever. There are about 900 movies with that same premise, but Sinister is different. The house isn't what is haunted. There is a scene that is repeatedly shown throughout the movie where 4 members of the family are hanging from the very tree that is still in the backyard. What I particularly enjoy about this movie is all the eerie scenes that are shot with Super 8 film and displayed find of like found footage. They look great. Why do the police not have these rolls of film? How did Ellison (Ethan Hawke) just stumble upon them in the attic?
Ellison doesn't tell his wife or kids that this is a house where a murder took place. He has his own office where he sets up all this FBI style investigation shit. There are photos, maps, and of course the films he found in the attic just scattered everywhere. The films reveal more than he initially expected. There are multiple murders, but they are not all in the same house. So if it's not the house that's haunted, then what is? He obsesses every night, drinking whiskey and viewing these films over and over trying to find out what the connections are. If he could solve all these weird murders and disappearances then he would be one of the greatest writers ever. A thing that bothers me about movies how the protagonist reacts when they hear something in the house. It's always a voice, or a bang or a door slam or something. And it's always at night (duh). THEN they always decide to sneak around the house in the dark ALONE. Like, his wife is there. If he truly believed he heard something why wouldn't he wake her up? I guess it's because he doesn't want her to know about the murder in the backyard. But like, turn a light on man. The problem is that Ellison never closes or locks the door to his damn office like he promised. I guess in the past it must have caused their kids some nightmares and they're trying to eliminate that from happening again. But here he goes just leaving the door open constantly. So his kids start seeing photos and imagery of all these weird satanically ritualistic type murders - and of course the iconic "demon" or maybe some dude wearing a mask. Whoever illustrated that needs an award. It honestly is so fucking scary it deserves to be in like every iconic horror villain history file ever forever. I mean as far as the footage goes, how is it that Ellison can watch these films and not be too afraid to be there? It's one thing watching videos of people dying or getting murdered or whatever. But murders in your own house? And like, you're still just fine living there? Iconic possible future crime book or not, I'm not trying to look out my window and replay that scene in my mind every time. These characters that move into these houses in these movies always think that they're going to be the exception to the rule. "Oh people died here." SURELY THIS WON'T HAPPEN TO US. Have you never seen a horror movie? This movie is in what, 2012? Even if you don't believe in ghosts and witchcraft and whatever else, like there are other houses you can move into. Honestly. I'm not a religious person. I suspect that many people into horror movies or even horror movie writers/directors/etc aren't either. To me though, I feel as though there is some element of religion within believing in ghosts, demons, witches, or anything of the sort. It means you believe in some kind of afterlife. If you believe people just die and go away, then why would these things exist. Maybe it's all a hoax, of course. The human mind can be devious and play awful tricks on people for sure. Even I've truly felt ghosts or demons around me when I've been in certain places or situations. I'm fairly intuitive. And I believe myself. There are many scenes where Ellison is running around with a bat in the dark when he hears things moving or banging. I have a bat next to my bed. I ALWAYS have. Who doesn't? Why wouldn't you? A bat is a very useful tool. There always seems to be a stupidly brave protagonist is that constantly seeing weird traps, and they walk directly into them. Like the staircase to the attic opens on its own, at 3:30 AM, in the dark. What should you do? Surely, just walk upstairs and investigate. Alone. No. Get your fuckin' family up and go for a fucking drive. It's not safe. Nothing about that situation is safe. The demon in this movie is named "Bughuul" of an apparent Babylonian deity. It's a fictional character. Unique to say the least, and terrifying to look at. I am a little more interested when movies do reference real demons and folklore. It makes it just that much more realistic and terrifying. We know that its that it isn't the house that made all these terrible things start happening. It's the fact that Ellison found these movies, and as soon as you review them - which we also technically all do while watching the movie - then you put yourself in danger. So this adds an extra element of fear as a viewer because not only has the demon been revealed to us, but we have also viewed all the tapes. Ellison does everything he can to burn the tapes, but of course you can't destroy shit like this. The writing becomes really good near the end of the movie because everything ties together and there is no stupid explanation. It's quite complicated and took assistance from the friendly Deputy to figure it all out. It's all Ethan Hawke's fault. Not only for being a beautiful man and a great actor, but because in the movie his character just has to be the famous superhero writer. Great movie. I'm still scared.
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