Sinister (film)

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Sinister
SinisterMoviePoster2012.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byScott Derrickson
Written by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyChristopher Norr
Edited byFrédéric Thoraval
Music byChristopher Young
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release date
  • March 11, 2012 (2012-03-11) (SXSW)
  • October 12, 2012 (2012-10-12) (United States)
Running time
109 minutes[2]
CountriesUnited Kingdom
United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3 million[3]
Box office$87.7 million[4]

Sinister is a 2012 supernatural horror film directed and co-written by Scott Derrickson. The film stars Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, James Ransone, Fred Thompson, and Vincent D'Onofrio. The plot revolves around true-crime writer Ellison Oswalt (Hawke) whose discovery of Super 8 home movies depicting grisly murders found in the attic of his new house puts his family in danger.

Sinister was inspired by a nightmare co-writer C. Robert Cargill had after watching the 2002 film The Ring.[5] Principal photography on Sinister began in Autumn of 2011 with a production budget of $3 million.[3] To add the authenticity of old home movies and snuff films, the Super 8 segments were shot on actual Super 8 cameras and film stock.[6] The film was a co-production between the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

The film premiered at the SXSW festival. It was released in the United States on October 12, 2012, and in the UK on October 5, 2012. Sinister received positive reviews, praising the acting, direction, music, cinematography, and atmosphere, but received some criticism for its use of jump scares (most notably the lawnmower scene) and horror cliches. The film was a box office success, grossing $87.7 million against its budget of $3 million.[4] The film's financial success spawned a sequel, Sinister 2, released in the United States on August 21, 2015.

Plot[]

True crime writer Ellison Oswalt moves into a home in the fictional town of Chatford, Pennsylvania with his wife Tracy, their son, Trevor, and their daughter, Ashley. Ellison moved into a home where a family (the Stevenson family) was murdered and intends to use their case as the basis for his new book. He hopes his research reveals the fate of the Stevenson family's fifth member, Stephanie, who disappeared following the murders.

Ellison finds a box in the attic that contains a projector, a scorpion, and several reels of Super 8 footage, each labeled as home movies. The films are footage depicting the murder of different families in various ways, including hanging (Family Hanging Out ‘11), drowning (Pool Party ‘66), throat-slitting (Sleepy Time ‘98), hit and run with a lawnmower (Lawn Work ‘86), and arson (BBQ ‘79). Each murder is performed by an unseen person holding the camera. Ellison notes the appearance of a mysterious symbol and a strange, ominous figure in the films.

While examining the throat-slitting film on his Mac computer, Ellison discovers that the footage was filmed at St. Louis, Missouri. He looked up the murders based on the time and location on Google, and found a news report from 14 years prior to the current events, as well as an article based on the murders. The report reveals that three members of the Miller family had been murdered on that night, with the oldest son, 13-year-old Christopher missing at the scene.

One night, Ellison investigates noises in the attic, finds a king snake that was hidden in the lid of the film reels, and discovers childlike drawings illustrated on paper glued inside the lid that depicts the murders, with the strange figure called "Mr. Boogie" standing next to the victims. Ellison consults a local deputy and discovers that the murders in the Super 8 footage took place at different times and in different cities across the country dating back to 1966. Ellison also learns that a child from each family went missing following every murder. Ellison also discovers that the Stevensons’ former address was the same house and city where the Miller family murders occurred prior to moving to Chatford.

The deputy refers Ellison to Professor Jonas, who specializes in the occult, to decipher the symbol in the films. Jonas says such symbols refer to an ancient and obscure pagan deity named Bughuul, who would kill entire families and take one of their children to consume their soul slowly. Jonas suspects the murders are part of a cult initiation rite, rather than the work of a single person stretching across decades.

Ellison hears the film projector running and finds the missing children seated in the attic watching one of the films. Bughuul appears on camera before physically appearing before Ellison. Ellison takes the camera, projector, and films outside and then burns them. He tells Tracy that they are moving back to their old house.

At his old home, Ellison receives a video call from Jonas who sends him scans of historical images associated with Bughuul including the three symbolic animals that Ellison encountered at the Stevenson house: a scorpion, a snake, a dog (which Ellison encountered a Rottweiler in the Stevensons’ backyard), and the symbol that was found in the murder movies. Early Christians believed that images of Bughuul served as a gateway for the demon to come from the spiritual realm to the mortal world, and Bughuul can possess children who come into contact with these images. Ellison discovers the unharmed projector and films in his attic, along with a new film labeled "Extended Cut Endings”.

The deputy calls Ellison and informs him that every murdered family had previously lived in the house where the last murder took place. He also learns from Professor Jonas the pattern: each new murder occurred shortly after the family moved from the crime scene into a new residence. The timeline of the murders dates back to the 1966 drownings in Portland, Oregon, in which the Martinez family lived in Portland where the pool drownings occurred before moving to Sacramento, California in 1979, then the De Luzio family lived in Sacramento where the Martinez family arson occurred before moving to Orange County, California in 1986, the Miller family lived in Orange County where the De Luzio lawn massacre occurred before moving to St. Louis, Missouri in 1998, and the Stevenson family lived in St. Louis where the Miller throat-slitting occurred before moving to Chatford in 2011. By moving from the Stevenson house in Chatford where the family hangings occurred back to his old house, Ellison has placed himself and his family in line to be the next victims. The new footage depicts the missing children coming onscreen following each murder, revealing themselves to be the killers under Bughuul's influence.

Ellison becomes lightheaded and notices a green liquid at the bottom of his coffee mug, along with a note from Ashley that says, "Good night, Daddy," before losing consciousness. He awakes to find himself, Tracy, and Trevor bound and gagged on the floor. Ashley, under Bughuul's possession (likely contracted from her newfound friendship with Stephanie), approaches them while filming with the 8 mm camera. She tells her father that she will make him "famous again", and proceeds to murder her family with an axe. She then uses their blood to paint pictures on the walls of the hallway, along with Bughuul's symbol on a door.

Ashley views the film of her murders while drawing the murder in the lid of the home movies box. The missing children stare at her through the film but flee when Bughuul appears. He lifts Ashley into his arms and teleports into the film. The box of films is seen sitting in the Oswalt family's attic, now accompanied by Ashley's reel titled House Painting ‘12.

Home movies list[]

The super 8 footage home movies watched by Ellison throughout the film, which are mostly innocent and mundane initially during the day based on the title of each reel, are snuff films of the families being murdered in various gruesome modus operandi corresponding to the same aforementioned title, which occur usually at night and/or when there are no witnesses, and carried out by an unseen assailant as a form of ritualistic sacrifice for Bughuul to be reached in order to consume the soul of the targeted child. Each reel’s setting takes place in different cities in the United States in different times, dating back to 1966 leading to the film’s recent year setting of 2012. Prior to the murders, the families of the targeted children are drugged with an unknown glowing green substance in their beverages, which film theorists believe acts as a sedative to render the family members (save for the missing children) unconscious so that the missing child can commence the sacrificial murders.

Pool Party ‘66

Filmed in Portland, Oregon, 1966, the footage reel depicts a family of five (last name not revealed) swimming and playing in the pool of their home and having lunch. The footage then cuts to the scenery at night, with the lemonade containing an unknown glowing green substance that drugged the family. The footage shows four family members (the mother, the father, and two daughters Vicky and Amber) bound to four pool lounge chairs set at the edge of the pool’s deep end with cinder blocks tied to the bottom of the lounge chairs head-first as weights and the backs attached to rope. The only son of the family Tristian, is missing in the night scene. An unseen assailant then pulls each family member into the pool head first, causing them to drown with the cinder blocks weighing down the lounges. Bughuul is seen from the bottom of the pool watching the drownings. In the “Extended Cut Ending” the assailant is revealed to be Tristian who holds his index finger to his mouth before jumping into the pool and vanishing from the scene.

BBQ ‘79

Filmed in Sacramento, California, 1979, the footage reel depicts all four members of the Martinez family at a lake near their home having a barbecue picnic and fishing at the lake. The footage then cuts to the Martinez family’s garage at night with three family members (Mr. and Mrs. Martinez, and one of their sons Ronnie) in the home’s garage, bound, gagged, and locked in their car with cans of gasoline inside. Their car is seen chained to completely lock the car on the outside, drenched in gasoline, and has the symbol of Bughuul painted on the hood of the car. The Martinez’ 9-year-old son Darrell is missing in the night scene. An unseen figure lights the car on fire, burning the Martinez family inside. Bughuul is spotted by the side of the car. In the “Extended Cut Ending” the arsonist is revealed to be Darrell, who walks towards the camera as it films the burning car, silently holds his index finger to his mouth, and vanishes.

Lawn Work ‘86

Filmed in Orange County, California, 1986, an unseen figure films from the outside of the house and through the windows (while it is raining that night), where all four members of the De Luzio family (Mr. and Mrs. De Luzio and their two daughters June and Lana) are enjoying some quality family bonding inside. The footage then cuts to the figure opening the gate to the backyard, turning on a lawnmower that has been set outside, and running it towards three members of the De Luzio family (Mr. and Mrs. De Luzio, and their oldest daughter June), all of whom are tied up. A scream is heard as the unseen assailant dismembers all three family members starting with Mrs. De Luzio. Their youngest daughter Lana is missing at the scene of the lawnmower massacre. In the “Extended Cut Ending” the assailant is revealed to be Lana De Luzio dragging five garbage bags full of her family’s shredded remains. She removes the gardening gloves that she is wearing, lifts up the hood of her raincoat, and holds her index finger to her mouth while looking at the camera before vanishing.

Sleepy Time ‘98

Filmed in St. Louis, Missouri, 1998, the footage begins in an empty kitchen in the middle of the night with drinking glasses filled with water that has been tainted with the same unknown substance found in the lemonade in Pool Party ‘66. An unseen figure turns on the camera’s light and navigates from the kitchen to the second floor of the house where another drawn symbol of Bughuul can be seen. The figure enters the master bedroom where Mr. and Mrs. Miller are seen bound to their bed and gagged with packaging tape. The family’s Chihuahua growls and barks at the figure as both parents have their throats slit with a Chef’s knife. The figure then enters the bedroom of the Miller’s youngest son Jake, who is restrained to his bed in the same fashion as his parents, and slits his throat as well. The fourth member of the Miller family, 13-year-old Christopher, is missing during the murders. In the “Extended Cut Ending” the murderer reveals himself as Christopher, who walks towards the camera brandishing the bloodstained knife and imitating slashing motions before setting the knife on Jake’s dresser. Christopher looks at the camera and holds his index finger to his mouth before vanishing.

Family Hanging Out ‘11

The opening scene of the actual film, filmed in the fictional town of Chatford, Pennsylvania, a year prior to the film’s current events, the footage reel depicts all five members of the Stevenson family hanging out in their backyard with Mrs. Stevenson and one of the 10-year-old identical twin daughters Jenny gardening, Mr. Stevenson and their oldest son Brian playing football, Jenny’s twin sister, Stephanie playing on her favorite tire swing, all while having a picnic lunch. The film then cuts to the backyard at dawn with the four members of the Stevenson family (Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson, Jenny, and Brian) below the tree with sacks on their heads and nooses around their necks; only Stephanie is missing from the scene. An unseen figure begins to saw through a limb acting as a counterweight from the top of the tree, causing the entire Stevenson family to hang simultaneously. In the last frame of the film’s footage, Bughuul is seen in the background, viewing the Stevenson family from the bushes. In the “Extended Cut Ending” the murderer is revealed to be Stephanie, who climbs down from the tree and begins to swing on her father’s legs. She then walks toward the camera, holds her index finger to her mouth, and then vanishes.

House Painting ‘12

The most recent home movie, added in the final scene of the movie, is filmed in the Oswalt family’s old house after moving out of the Stevensons’ house. Here 7-year-old Ashley starts an 8 mm camcorder then proceeds to kill and dismember her parents, Ellison and Tracy, and her older brother, 12-year-old Trevor, with an axe. Next she records the walls of the hallway where she has painted cats, dogs, unicorns and the symbol of Bughuul using her family's blood for paint.

Cast[]

Production[]

Development[]

Writer C. Robert Cargill says that his inspiration for Sinister came from a nightmare he experienced after seeing The Ring, in which he discovered a film in his attic depicting the hanging of an entire family. This scenario became the setup for the plot of Sinister.[7] In creating a villain for the film, Cargill conceptualized a new take on the Bogeyman, calling the entity "Mr. Boogie". Cargill's idea was that the creature would be both terrifying and seductive to children, luring them to their dooms as a sinister Willy Wonka-like figure.[8]

Cargill and co-writer Scott Derrickson ultimately decided to downplay the creature's alluring nature, only intimating how it manipulates the children into murder. In further developing Mr. Boogie, the pair had lengthy discussions about its nature, deciding not to make it a demon but rather a pagan deity, in order to place it outside the conceptual scope of any one particular religion. Consequently, the villain was given the proper name "Bughuul", with only the child characters in the film referring to it as Mr. Boogie.[8][9]

Design[]

In crafting a look for Bughuul, Cargill initially kept to the idea of a sinister Willy Wonka before realizing that audiences might find it "silly" and kill the potential for the film becoming a series. Looking for inspiration, Derrickson typed the word "horror" into flickr and searched through 500,000 images. He narrowed the images down to 15, including a photograph of a ghoul which was tagged simply "Natalie". Cargill was particularly struck by "Natalie" and decided: "What if it's just this guy?". He and Derrickson contacted the photographer and purchased the rights to use the image for $500. Derrickson explained that the image appealed to him because it reminded him of the makeup and costumes worn by performers in black metal, while remaining unique enough so as not to be directly linked to the genre; Derrickson had previously researched black metal while looking for inspiration for Bughuul's symbol, which is ritualistically painted at the scene of each of the film's murder sequences.[8][9] Some of the background music for these murder sequences was taken from ambient tracks by bands associated with the Norwegian black metal scene, including Ulver and Aghast.[10]

Filming[]

Principal photography for Sinister began in autumn of 2011, after Ethan Hawke and Juliet Rylance signed on to star in the film.[11] The Super 8 segments were shot first, using actual Super 8 cameras and film stock, in order to maintain the aesthetic authenticity of home-shot Super 8 footage.[6] Principal photography took place on Long Island. In an interview with Bleeding Cool, screenwriter Cargill admitted that Hawke's character got his name (Ellison Oswalt) from writer Harlan Ellison and comedian/writer Patton Oswalt. Cargill keeps books by both men on his shelves.[citation needed]

Reception[]

First revealed at the SXSW festival in the United States, Sinister premiered in the United Kingdom at the London FrightFest and in Spain at the Sitges Film Festival.[12][13]

Critical response[]

Sinister has an approval rating of 63% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 154 reviews, with an average rating of 6.20/10.[14] The critical consensus states "Its plot hinges on typically implausible horror-movie behavior and recycles countless genre cliches, but Sinister delivers a surprising number of fresh, diabolical twists."[14] The film also has a score of 53 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[15]

Variety praised the film as "the sort of tale that would paralyze kids' psyches".[16] Film.com stated that Sinister was a "deeply frightening horror film that takes its obligation to alarm very seriously".[17] Roger Ebert gave it three out of four stars, criticizing a few obvious horror tropes but praising Hawke's performance and calling it "an undeniably scary movie."[18] Peter Paras of E! named it the best horror film of 2012, citing the film's soundtrack and subversion of contemporary horror tropes.[19]

CraveOnline called the film "solid" but remarked that the film "doesn't quite go to the next level that gets me like an Insidious",[20] and IGN praised the film's story while criticizing some of Sinister's "scream-out-loud moments" as lazy.[21]

Reviewer Garry McConnachie of Scotland's Daily Record rated the film four of five stars, saying, "This is how Hollywood horror should be done... Sinister covers all its bases with aplomb."[22]

Ryan Lambie of Den of Geek gave the film three out of five stars, and wrote that despite its faults, "there's something undeniably powerful about Sinister. Hawke's performance holds the screen through its more hackneyed moments, and it's the scenes where it's just him, a projector, and a few feet of hideous 8 mm footage where the movie truly convinces. And while its scares are frequently cheap, it's also difficult to deny that Sinister sometimes manages to inspire moments of palpable dread."[23]

Some reviewers have criticized the film's preoccupation with outdated technology. Peter Howell of the Toronto Star (who gave the film two out of four stars) argues that the movie tries for "old school shocks" but "can't afford a pre-Internet setting."[24] Rafer Guzman of Newsday wrote that "celluloid is such a warm, friendly old format that it seems unlikely to contain the spirit of, say, a child-eating demon."[25] Academic study of the film, however, tends to view Sinister's representation of both old and new media formats as a study in transmediation.[26]

A 2020 study conducted by broadbandchoices named Sinister the scariest film among the 50 highest-rated horror films according to sources such as IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Reddit, based on the highest average heart rates of 50 viewer participants.[27][28]

Home media[]

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on February 11, 2013, in the UK and February 19, 2013, in the US[29] with two commentaries (one with director Scott Derrickson and another with writer C. Robert Cargill). The release also included two new features (True Crime Criminals and Living in a House of Death) as well as a featurette on the Sinister Fear Experiment performed by Thrill Laboratory in celebration of the film's theatrical release.

Sequel[]

Main article: Sinister 2

A sequel was announced to be in the works in March 2013, with Derrickson in talks to co-write the script with Cargill, but not to direct.[30] On April 17, 2014, it was announced that Ciaran Foy would direct the film, and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Charles Layton, Xavier Marchand and Patrice Théroux would executive produce the sequel with eOne Entertainment.[31] The film was released on August 21, 2015.[citation needed]

References[]

  1. ^ "Sinister". Box Office Mojo.
  2. ^ "SINISTER (15)". British Board of Film Classification. July 6, 2012. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Kaufman, Amy (October 11, 2012). "'Taken 2,' 'Argo' in tight race for No. 1 at weekend box office". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 16, 2013.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b "Sinister (2012) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  5. ^ "Archived copy". screengeek. Archived from the original on November 11, 2012. Retrieved December 11, 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b McIntyre, Gina (October 13, 2012). "'Sinister': Scott Derrickson on horror … and Tavis Smiley". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
  7. ^ Interview: Sinister Writer Cargill Screen Geek
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b c "How Sinister Brought Mr. Boogie to Life". Fearnet. Retrieved June 16, 2013.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b How Internet Art Inspired the Monster in Ethan Hawke's Sinister io9.com
  10. ^ Sinister: The "Other" Soundtrack. The End of Summer.
  11. ^ Scott Derrickson's Untitled Found Footage Film Gets a Sinister Title Dread Central
  12. ^ FrightFest '12 UK Genre Fest Announces Full Line Up; Record 48 Films! 'V/H/S' 'Sinister' 'American Mary' 'Under the Bed' & More! Bloody Disgusting
  13. ^ Sitges 2012 line-up includes Maniac, The Tall Man, Sinister and The Possession! JoBlo.com
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b "Sinister". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
  15. ^ "Sinister". Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  16. ^ Review: Sinister Variety
  17. ^ SXSW Review: Sinister Film.com
  18. ^ Ebert, Roger (October 10, 2012). "Sinister Movie Review & Film Summary (2012)". Rogerebert.suntimes.com. Retrieved June 16, 2013.
  19. ^ Paras, Peter (October 12, 2012). "Eight Reasons Sinister Is the Scariest Movie of the Year". E!. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
  20. ^ SXSW Review: Sinister CraveOnline
  21. ^ Sinister Review IGN
  22. ^ McConnachie, Garry (October 2, 2012). "Movie review: Sinister". Daily Record. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
  23. ^ Lambie, Ryan (September 25, 2012). "Sinister review". Den of Geek. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
  24. ^ "Sinister review: Mr. Boogie, meet scarier Mr. Google". The Star. Toronto.
  25. ^ "'Sinister' review: Snuff stuff". Retrieved March 24, 2017.
  26. ^ "Sinister Celluloid in the Age of Instagram – Marc Olivier". June 26, 2014. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
  27. ^ Clifford, Dan (October 12, 2020). "The Science of scare". Broadbandchoices.co.uk. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  28. ^ Bean, Travis (October 17, 2020). "What Is The Scariest Movie Ever? Science Now Has An Answer To That Question". forbes.com. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  29. ^ "Sinister DVD/Blu Ray release USA". newblurayrelease.com. Archived from the original on March 1, 2013. Retrieved February 24, 2013.
  30. ^ Wakeman, Gregory (March 4, 2013). "'Sinister' Sequel Announced". The Inquisitor. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
  31. ^ "'Sinister 2' Moving Ahead With 'Citadel' Director". The Hollywood Reporter. April 17, 2014. Retrieved April 17, 2014.

External links[]

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