✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
United States, United Kingdom, Canada · 2012
1h 50m
Director Scott Derrickson
Starring Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, Vincent D'Onofrio, James Ransone
Genre Horror, Mystery, Thriller
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Found footage helps a true-crime novelist realize how and why a family was murdered in his new home, though his discoveries put his entire family in the path of a supernatural entity.
Sinister is pretty much everything to hate about modern horror in one mixed bag, a ramshackle teardown of jump-scares and creaky tricks, saw-it-coming "surprises" and the lead-footed thud of inevitability as it tediously places one clumsy foot in front of the other, plodding towards a finale that comes far too late.
The New Yorker by Anthony Lane
Throughout Sinister, the rooms remain darker than crypts, whether at breakfast or dinnertime, and the sound design causes everything in the house to moan and groan in consort with the hero's worrisome quest. I still can't decide what creaks the most: the floors, the doors, the walls, the dialogue, the acting, or the fatal boughs outside.
The movie makes up for uneven dialogue and pacing issues through sheer horrific imagery.
The Hollywood Reporter by John DeFore
Occasionally stupid (stretching even fright-flick conventions) but scary nonetheless, the picture should please horror fans.
Derrickson bounces back from his insipid redo of "The Day The Earth Stood Still" with an effective chiller that's got a skeleton or two in its closet.
Village Voice by Nick Pinkerton
Hawke's taut performance - lightly parodying his own career doldrums while playing an egotistical hack who's a close cousin of John Cassavetes's self-loathing actor in Rosemary's Baby - is totally credible.
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
I knew perfectly well, after a while, what Sinister was going to scare me with. But I got scared anyway.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
The snuff-porn aesthetic might suggest a realist drama, but a supernatural dimension is brought into play, making the plot directionless. There isn't an ounce of ingenuity in the way the movie is concluded, but some generic expertise in the way it is put together.
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A recently widowed mother battles "The Babadook,” a dark character from a children's book who is lurking in the house.