Sinister 2

Sinister 2
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ciarán Foy
Written by	Scott Derrickson C. Robert Cargill
Based on	Characters by Scott Derrickson C. Robert Cargill
Produced by	Jason Blum Scott Derrickson Brian Kavanaugh-Jones
Starring	James Ransone Shannyn Sossamon
Cinematography	Amy Vincent
Edited by	Michael Trent Timothy Alverson
Music by	Tomandandy
Production companies	Automatik Entertainment Blumhouse Productions Entertainment One IM Global Tank Caterpillar, Inc.
Distributed by	Gramercy Pictures[1]
Release date	August 21, 2015 (2015-08-21)
Running time	97 minutes[2]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$10 million[3][4]
Box office	$54.1 million[5]

Sinister 2 (stylized in marketing as Sinister II) is a 2015 American supernatural horror film directed by Ciarán Foy and written by Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, serving as a sequel to the 2012 film Sinister, and stars James Ransone, reprising his role from the original film, alongside Shannyn Sossamon. The film follows the now ex-deputy as he attempts to put an end to Bughuul's curse, while a boy is being tormented by the entity's previous victims who lived in the house where he, his twin brother, and mother now reside, hiding from his abusive father.

Sinister 2 was a co-production of Blumhouse Productions, Entertainment One, IM Global, Tank Caterpillar, Inc., and released theatrically in the United States on August 21, 2015, by Gramercy Pictures. The film was largely panned by critics, with criticism for its jump scares, horror cliches and story, while Ransone's performance received some praise. The film grossed over $54 million against its reported budget of $10 million.

Unlike the first film which utilized 8 mm film in the story’s home movies and snuff films, Sinister 2 utilized 16 mm film, vinyl records, and ham radio broadcasts in the film’s storyline.

Plot[]

The film opens with a 16 mm home movie, depicting a family of three. The family is bound and hung up like scarecrows with sacks over their heads in a cornfield, and burned alive. It is revealed to be the nightmare of 9-year-old Dylan Collins, who is squatting in a rural farmhouse in Illinois next to the deconsecrated Westminster Lutheran Church, with his twin brother, Zach, and their mother, Courtney. The family is on the run from Clint, Courtney's abusive husband and the father of Zach and Dylan.

Dylan is visited nightly by a group of ghostly children, led by an older boy named Milo Jacobs, who once lived in the house with his parents and three sisters. Milo and the other children coerce Dylan to watch "home movies" of families being murdered in various savage ways, such as being hung upside down over a bayou and eaten alive by alligators (Fishing Trip filmed by Ted), being bound and gagged with Christmas lights and buried alive up to their necks in the snow until they are frozen to death with frostbite on Christmas Day (Christmas Morning filmed by Emma), and being electrocuted in a flooded kitchen that was in the process of being remodeled (Kitchen Remodel filmed by Peter).

Former sheriff's deputy So-and-So, now a private investigator, is researching the murders connected to Bughuul and burning down the homes where each murder took place before another family can move into them and continue the pattern, including the house where Ellison Oswalt and his family were murdered. He arrives at the farmhouse to destroy it, but realizes Courtney and her sons are living there. He tells Courtney he's there to investigate the church on the property where a gruesome murder of a minister and his family (the Jacobs family) took place.

Clint shows up at the farmhouse with state troopers to try to take the boys but leaves after the Deputy threatens them, warning them that they need a court order with the consent from the sheriff. The Deputy reveals that he was arrested as a suspect for the murder of the Oswalts. He was cleared of the charge, but was fired for releasing classified information to Ellison, such as the identities of the murdered families and the addresses of where the murders happened.

Courtney wants to leave, but the Deputy advises her not to, telling her that she'd be seen as a flight risk by the court, but also knowing that leaving would continue the murders connected to Bughuul. Courtney invites him to stay overnight, and the two develop a budding romance.

The Deputy meets with Prof. Stromberg, who has come into possession of a ham radio that belonged to Prof. Jonas from the previous film, who has mysteriously disappeared shortly after the Oswalt massacre, revealing that the ham radio first belonged to a Norwegian family, murdered in 1973. He plays a recording of a young girl shouting, "Quiet! Bughuul can't hear me over your yelling, Mom!" in Norwegian as she kills her family, before playing the piano.

Prof. Stromberg reveals that Bughuul (the Boogeyman) was believed to be reachable by ritual or sacrifice and/or to have been feeding on the corruption of innocents. He deduces that the murders share three common traits: a murdered family, missing children, and an iconological totem or offering in the form of any music, literature, and/or art as an “aesthetic observance of violence,” as a means to summon Bughuul. The Deputy deduces that Bughuul exclusively targets the children of the families, and orders Stromberg to destroy the ham radio.

Zach becomes jealous of the ghost children who visit Dylan, and insists on having their attention, but Milo rejects him. The children show Dylan the video of the church murders (Sunday Service), which are revealed to be done by Milo. He nailed his family to the floor by their wrists and placed a rat onto each family member’s stomach after Bughuul summoned the rats. He then put metal bowls over the rats, secured the bowls in place on each victim’s abdomen with reinforced straps, and placed hot coals on top of the bowls, which forced the rats to escape by eating through the victims, causing his family to bleed to death.

After Dylan refuses to watch the last movie, the children turn their attention to Zach and abandon Dylan, saying he's not their real target. Dylan watches the last reel filmed by one of the two girls of the group, Catharine, which depicts her family bound and restrained to dentist chairs with their mouths forcefully held open with medical gags as she drilled and mutilated their exposed teeth until the drill pierces through their heads (A Trip To The Dentist).

Clint arrives with the court order and Courtney, knowing he'll be abusive to the twins if she isn't present, goes with him to protect her sons. The Deputy drives to Clint's home to warn them about the danger, but Clint beats him up and orders the Deputy to leave the property, threatening him with a shotgun. The next day, Zach, as directed by Milo and the ghost children, films the family playing golf and having lunch outside. That night, Dylan contacts the Deputy for help as he and his parents lose consciousness.

Courtney, Dylan, and Clint are drugged and hung on scarecrow posts with sacks over their heads in the cornfield by Clint’s house (similar to Dylan’s nightmare in the opening scene). A possessed Zach douses his family in three separate trails of gasoline, lights Clint on fire, and films him as his father burns to death.

The Deputy arrives at the Collins’ residence, and follows the smoke and screams to where Zach has the family. Just as Zach is about to light Dylan on fire, the Deputy hits Zach with his car. He frees Courtney and Dylan and they flee into the cornfield. However, Zach survived being hit and cuts off the fingers of the Deputy's left hand with a sickle.

Inside the home, the ghost children try to help Zach find them. Just as Zach is about to kill Courtney and Dylan, the Deputy manages to destroy the camera with a golf club, thwarting Zach's attempt in making his home movie and breaking the cycle. Zach tries to find another camera in the attic, but he's shamed by the ghost children for failing to kill his family. Without an iconological object to influence living children and earn souls for Bughuul to consume, they are now trapped in the spirit realm.

Bughuul appears and places his hand on Zach's shoulder. As a punishment for his failure, Bughuul causes Zach's body to decay rapidly. The cloth projection screen to bursts into flames with Zach and Bughuul inside. The whole house catches on fire as the Deputy, Courtney, and Dylan escape. The trio survived their escape from the burning house, and their ordeal.

Later, while collecting his things to leave with Courtney and Dylan, the Deputy finds the unharmed ham radio in his motel room and the ghost children begin speaking through it with Bughuul quickly appearing on the screen.

Home Movies List[]

Unlike the first film in which the snuff films were filmed using 8 mm film, the fictional murders in the sequel were captured through 16 mm film synced with vinyl records. While no dates were labeled on the films, it is indicated that the murders occurred after the Oswalt family massacre from the first film. Throughout the film, the ghost children are revealed to be the murderers of their respective families.

Additionally, in one scene, Professor Stromberg, a colleague of Professor Jonas from the first film, concluded that the snuff films were an example of a thematic offering for Bughuul to reach the physical world as an “aesthetic observance of violence,” One offering also includes an unnamed ham radio broadcast from Norway in 1973 where a family was murdered, and the piano played by their daughter, who then went missing.

Fishing Trip

Filmed by the youngest of the boys, Ted, in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, the footage captures his parents and two brothers fishing at Bayou Teche, having dinner (where Ted briefly appears onscreen to join them), and hunting.

The film then cuts to the middle of the night with his family being bound and hanging upside down over the bayou, gagged with sacks tied to their heads and their drinks from their flask being tainted with a glowing green substance. A group of alligators swim towards the family, and began eating them alive one by one.

Christmas Morning

Filmed by the oldest girl, Emma, the footage captured her parents, and her younger siblings opening their gifts on Christmas Day sharing the love, along with Emma briefly appearing onscreen serving her family hot cocoa.

The film then cuts to later in the night with her family outside bound and gagged with Christmas lights in shallow graves while she buries them up to their necks in the snow, and leaves them to expire from hypothermia.

Note: It is implied that Emma tainted her family’s hot cocoa with the same unknown glowing green substance introduced in the first film to sedate them.

Kitchen Remodel

Filmed by the middle child of the boys, Peter, the footage captured his parents and older brother working on remodeling the kitchen of their new house, and having pizza for lunch with Peter briefly appearing onscreen to join them.

The film then cuts to the kitchen at night with the sink’s opened pipes flooding the kitchen from the cabinet and the family’s drinks from lunch tainted with the same glowing-green substance.

Peter walk towards the camera (with his face hidden), putting on rubber boots before filming his incapacitated family sitting on the flooded floor with their hands bound to copper wires hanging from the ceiling’s lighting system, and gagged by duct tape. Peter then takes a cable that his father was working on from the wall, and throws it onto the flooded floor, electrocuting his family until they die with severe burns shown on their arms.

Sunday Service

Filmed by Milo Jacobs himself, the footage captured the Sunday service at the Lutheran church near the farmhouse (where Dylan Collins, his twin brother Zach, and mother Courtney went into hiding) where his father was the pastor there, with his mother and three sisters as members of the congregation. Milo briefly appears during Communion before filming the rest of the service.

The film then cuts to the church at night, with Milo pouring out the green substance from the Communion chalice before tossing it onto the floor and filming his incapacitated parents and sisters nailed to the floor resembling a pentagram with cloths over their heads, silver bowls strapped onto their abdomens, and a small pot full of charcoal briquettes in the center of the formation.

Milo then films Bughuul in physical form at the altar, summoning and manifesting a group of rats to the Jacobs family, with each rat placed onto each family member’s exposed stomach. Milo then ignited the pot for the briquettes to burn before covering each rat with the silver bowls, and tightening the straps. He then grabs a pair of tongs and places the embers on top of each silver bowl.

This forces the rats to burrow and eat through each family member’s abdomen to escape the heat, causing Milo’s entire family to bleed to death as the rats flee.

A Trip To The Dentist

Filmed by the youngest of the group, Catherine, the film captured her parents and sister strapped to chairs in an empty dentist’s office with retractors in their mouths to forcibly open their mouths. Catherine then takes a power drill with a long drill bit, and mutilates each family member’s teeth and roof of their mouth until the drill pieces through their heads, killing them instantly.

This reel was watched by the ghost children and Zach (who then became chosen to be Bughuul’s pawn).

Cast[]

Production[]

The scene in which trapped rats have to eat through a victim's body was inspired by a similar scene in the 1977 Nazi exploitation film La Bestia in calore.

Development[]

This section needs expansion. You can help by . (August 2015)

A sequel to Sinister was announced to be in the works in March 2013, with Scott Derrickson in talks to co-write the script with C. Robert Cargill, but not to direct, as Derrickson did on the first film.^[6]

On 17 April 2014, it was announced that Ciarán Foy would direct the film, and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Charles Layton, Xavier Marchand, and Patrice Théroux would executive produce the sequel with eOne Entertainment.^[7]

Filming[]

Principal photography began on August 19, 2014, in Chicago. It was shot for six weeks in locations including St. Anne and outside the village of Grant Park.^[8]

Marketing[]

The trailer for the film was uploaded on April 9, 2015, with the song "Hush, Hush, Hush, Here Comes the Bogeyman" being a main piece in the trailer. The song depicts the boogieman as a coward.

Release[]

On May 20, 2015, Focus Features relaunched their Gramercy Pictures label for action, horror, and science-fiction films. Sinister 2 was one of Gramercy's new releases.^[9]

Home media[]

Sinister 2 was released on DVD and Blu-ray on January 12, 2016.

Reception[]

Box office[]

The movie grossed $27,740,955 domestically and $26,363,270 internationally.^[5] The film earned $850,000 in ticket sales from late-night showings on Thursday and by the end of its first week, the movie earned $10,542,116, lower than its predecessor which pulled in $18,007,634.

Critical response[]

Review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes gives Sinister 2 an approval rating of 15%, based on 91 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Sinister 2 has a few ingredients that will be familiar to fans of the original; unfortunately, in this slapdash second installment, none of them are scary anymore."^[10] Metacritic gives the film a score of 32 out of 100, based on reviews from 17 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".^[11] CinemaScore announced that audiences gave the film an average grade of "B-" on an A+ to F scale.^[12]

IGN awarded it a score of 1 out of 10, rating it "unbearable". The site says, "Sinister 2 is an abysmal follow-up to its predecessor. At least that film knew that less is more. And less is scarier."^[13] MoviePilot also awarded the film 1 out of 10, calling it "one of the worst horror films of the last few years."^[14]

Future[]

Potential crossover sequel[]

Prior to the release of Insidious: The Last Key, Jason Blum stated that a crossover film between Sinister and the Insidious series had previously been in development, tentatively entitled Insinister, and that he personally believed it had potential for re-entering it, stating that "we're going to cross our worlds at some point".^[15]

References[]

External links[]

• Sinister 2 at IMDb
• Sinister 2 at Box Office Mojo
• Sinister 2 at Rotten Tomatoes
• Sinister 2 at Metacritic