Sinister

Directed by Scott Derrickson, Sinister follows true-crime novelist Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) as he and his family move into a house where a gruesome murder occurred years prior – with creepiness ensuing after Ellison discovers a series of 8mm recordings detailing the pursuit and murder of various individuals. Derrickson, along with cowriter C. Robert Cargill, does an impressive job of initially drawing the viewer into the admittedly familiar narrative, as the filmmaker has infused the proceedings with a palpably ominous feel that’s heightened by the sporadic inclusion of genuinely disturbing images and sequences. Hawke’s expectedly engrossing performance goes a long way towards perpetuating the movie’s compulsively watchable atmosphere, and there’s little doubt that Sinister is, in its early stages, one of the most promising horror efforts of its type to come around in quite some time. It’s just as clear, however, that the film loses a little momentum as it rolls into its padded-out and overlong midsection, with the ongoing emphasis on the increased marital strife between Ellison and his wife (Juliet Rylance’s Tracy), though effective at deepening the movie’s dramatic resonance, ensuring that Sinister rarely feels as tight or as taut as it could (and should) have been. There’s nevertheless no denying the impact of the unexpectedly captivating final stretch, with the appropriately downbeat finale confirming the film’s place as a consistently watchable yet somewhat uneven piece of work.

*** out of ****