Movie review: Sinister
I went to see Sinister today, and oh my god, that was the GREATEST MOVIE I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE :D Honestly, this was one of the best horror movies I've seen in a long time. I was a bit leery of it, since there are just so many scary movies that are absolute crap and not the least bit scary. But I've heard nothing but good things about this, so I decided to give it a chance, and I'm so glad I did. If you're looking for a good scary movie for Halloween, I highly recommend it.
[Cut for spoilers]This movie stars Ethan Hawke as the main character, and oh god <3 I haven't seen him in anything in forever - not since he was in White Fang back in 1991. I loved the book, and I loved that movie when I was little, and said movie started one of my many celebrity crushes on Ethan. But I haven't seen him in anything since, and as far as I knew, he'd dropped off the face of the earth a long time ago.
Checking out his IMDB page, I see that he hasn't, so why haven't I seen him in anything else?? This man SELLS this movie. A good 90% of it is spent on him, following him around as he discovers home movies of a string of crimes that have taken place over the last fifty years.
Ethan plays Ellison Oswalt, a true crime novelist who follows up on murders, trying to find more evidence that the police may have missed and publishing his findings. It's been ten years since his last successful novel, and he's struggling to find his next big hit. He moves his family into a house where an unsolved murder happened. This is where he finds these home movies. Horrifying home movies that start off with families having fun at pool parties and barbecues, and then switch over to them being drowned and burned to death among other things. They take something so benign and absolutely turn it and twist it until you're afraid to look at them. And they save the best for last.
This movie was absolutely terrifying. I was tensed up in my seat the entire time with my palms sweating, and I came out of there shaking. I can't remember being that thoroughly scared by a horror movie in ages. Perhaps forever. Most of the scares come from the home movies, because you're terrifies at what else could have gone on. The movie uses them sparingly, however, often cutting back to Ellison's life with his family. These moments are a welcome breather from the terror that the home movies create, and even though it leaves you eager for more, interested to know what else can be found out, it is absolutely horrifying to see Ellison return to his study where he watches the movies.
One of its biggest scares was the one I mentioned above - the last home movie that Ethan comes across. It's called "Yard Work" and whoever labeled them has a sick sense of humor (although rather amusing at the same time). Someone that we don't see who is holding the camera runs over the family with a lawn mower O_O
It actually sounds a bit silly written out, but it isn't. Not at all. They don't show it, and this movie succeeds for knowing when to hold back. A lot of the time, movies show gore upon gore, under the mistaken assumption that the bloodier, the better. We simply see the lawn mower about to run over a young boy before it cuts away to Ellison's reaction. So much more affective than mounds of fake blood being spurted at the camera.
Ellison becomes obsessed with the home movies, and he plays the slow descent into madness so well. You really feel that he's developing an unhealthy fixation with these movies, and while he knows he should probably stop, and while he wants to, because he's terrified of what he'll find out next, he can't. He wants so badly to write his next big novel, so in the interest of getting back the money and fame that he used to have, he puts his well-being (and indeed his family's well-being) on the line.
This is the way you write a flawed horror movie lead. So many horror films make their characters complete assholes, and I'm not really sure why. It doesn't make us care about them, it only makes us want to see them die faster. Ellison is perfectly flawed, but it doesn't make us hate him. On the contrary, he's still very likable, and you feel so much that he really does want what's best for his family in the long run. He wants to be able to provide a comfortable life for them, better than he's done in the last ten years since his last big success, and he just doesn't know when to stop. When his work is becoming an unhealthy thing for him and his family.
His family suffers from this too. His wife finds out that they're living in the house where horrible murders happened, something Ellison neglected to tell her when they moved, and she's understandably furious with him. Not to mention, as he invests more and more time in watching these movies and trying to uncover the mystery behind them, he spends less and less time with his family. To add to his marital problems, Ellison's children are also being affected by the house; his son's night terrors, which they thought he was outgrowing, are returning with a vengeance, while the daughter is beginning to see and learn things that she couldn't possibly know, things from the movies themselves.
As the movie progresses, more and more things from the movies begin appearing in the "real world". At first, this makes us wonder if Ellison is simply going crazy, or if these things are really finding a way out of the film. At first, the movies simply begin playing by themselves in the middle of the night, but it slowly progresses to other things, like the victims from the movies appearing.
In one of the movies, Ellison discovers the image of a hideously humanoid figure that he soon discovers are in all of the movies. Doing a bit of research, Ellison contacts an occult and demonology expert who identifies the figure as the demon, Bughuul, who devours children's souls. What I found amusing about this was that the figure, while never shown in very great detail, really resembles Fenrir Greyback from the Harry Potter movies. Well, he does devour children, so it's not very far off :P
But seriously, this movie is really, really good. It takes its time and the suspense builds slowly. It isn't rushed, and it spends enough time with the characters that we get to know and care about them. It's very atmospheric, and while it does make use of the occassional jump scare, it isn't overdone; they're used sparingly and always in places where it feels to fit with what's happening in the story.
The only criticism I can offer is that the ending was predictable, but it's excusable, because it's well worth the ride it takes you on. This is definitely the best horror movie this year, if not in the last several years, and I rather doubt any other ones will be able to live up to it any time soon.
[Cut for spoilers]This movie stars Ethan Hawke as the main character, and oh god <3 I haven't seen him in anything in forever - not since he was in White Fang back in 1991. I loved the book, and I loved that movie when I was little, and said movie started one of my many celebrity crushes on Ethan. But I haven't seen him in anything since, and as far as I knew, he'd dropped off the face of the earth a long time ago.
Checking out his IMDB page, I see that he hasn't, so why haven't I seen him in anything else?? This man SELLS this movie. A good 90% of it is spent on him, following him around as he discovers home movies of a string of crimes that have taken place over the last fifty years.
Ethan plays Ellison Oswalt, a true crime novelist who follows up on murders, trying to find more evidence that the police may have missed and publishing his findings. It's been ten years since his last successful novel, and he's struggling to find his next big hit. He moves his family into a house where an unsolved murder happened. This is where he finds these home movies. Horrifying home movies that start off with families having fun at pool parties and barbecues, and then switch over to them being drowned and burned to death among other things. They take something so benign and absolutely turn it and twist it until you're afraid to look at them. And they save the best for last.
This movie was absolutely terrifying. I was tensed up in my seat the entire time with my palms sweating, and I came out of there shaking. I can't remember being that thoroughly scared by a horror movie in ages. Perhaps forever. Most of the scares come from the home movies, because you're terrifies at what else could have gone on. The movie uses them sparingly, however, often cutting back to Ellison's life with his family. These moments are a welcome breather from the terror that the home movies create, and even though it leaves you eager for more, interested to know what else can be found out, it is absolutely horrifying to see Ellison return to his study where he watches the movies.
One of its biggest scares was the one I mentioned above - the last home movie that Ethan comes across. It's called "Yard Work" and whoever labeled them has a sick sense of humor (although rather amusing at the same time). Someone that we don't see who is holding the camera runs over the family with a lawn mower O_O
It actually sounds a bit silly written out, but it isn't. Not at all. They don't show it, and this movie succeeds for knowing when to hold back. A lot of the time, movies show gore upon gore, under the mistaken assumption that the bloodier, the better. We simply see the lawn mower about to run over a young boy before it cuts away to Ellison's reaction. So much more affective than mounds of fake blood being spurted at the camera.
Ellison becomes obsessed with the home movies, and he plays the slow descent into madness so well. You really feel that he's developing an unhealthy fixation with these movies, and while he knows he should probably stop, and while he wants to, because he's terrified of what he'll find out next, he can't. He wants so badly to write his next big novel, so in the interest of getting back the money and fame that he used to have, he puts his well-being (and indeed his family's well-being) on the line.
This is the way you write a flawed horror movie lead. So many horror films make their characters complete assholes, and I'm not really sure why. It doesn't make us care about them, it only makes us want to see them die faster. Ellison is perfectly flawed, but it doesn't make us hate him. On the contrary, he's still very likable, and you feel so much that he really does want what's best for his family in the long run. He wants to be able to provide a comfortable life for them, better than he's done in the last ten years since his last big success, and he just doesn't know when to stop. When his work is becoming an unhealthy thing for him and his family.
His family suffers from this too. His wife finds out that they're living in the house where horrible murders happened, something Ellison neglected to tell her when they moved, and she's understandably furious with him. Not to mention, as he invests more and more time in watching these movies and trying to uncover the mystery behind them, he spends less and less time with his family. To add to his marital problems, Ellison's children are also being affected by the house; his son's night terrors, which they thought he was outgrowing, are returning with a vengeance, while the daughter is beginning to see and learn things that she couldn't possibly know, things from the movies themselves.
As the movie progresses, more and more things from the movies begin appearing in the "real world". At first, this makes us wonder if Ellison is simply going crazy, or if these things are really finding a way out of the film. At first, the movies simply begin playing by themselves in the middle of the night, but it slowly progresses to other things, like the victims from the movies appearing.
In one of the movies, Ellison discovers the image of a hideously humanoid figure that he soon discovers are in all of the movies. Doing a bit of research, Ellison contacts an occult and demonology expert who identifies the figure as the demon, Bughuul, who devours children's souls. What I found amusing about this was that the figure, while never shown in very great detail, really resembles Fenrir Greyback from the Harry Potter movies. Well, he does devour children, so it's not very far off :P
But seriously, this movie is really, really good. It takes its time and the suspense builds slowly. It isn't rushed, and it spends enough time with the characters that we get to know and care about them. It's very atmospheric, and while it does make use of the occassional jump scare, it isn't overdone; they're used sparingly and always in places where it feels to fit with what's happening in the story.
The only criticism I can offer is that the ending was predictable, but it's excusable, because it's well worth the ride it takes you on. This is definitely the best horror movie this year, if not in the last several years, and I rather doubt any other ones will be able to live up to it any time soon.