Christianity Today

They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters …

Sounds like a line from a horror movie, doesn't it? But it's from the Bible—Psalm 106:37-38, in fact. It also has all the makings—blood, sacrifices, demons—of a genre hit. And for Scott Derrickson, a devout Christian and writer-director of 2005's The Exorcism of Emily Rose, that might just be the case.

Ethan Hawke as Ellison Oswalt

Ethan Hawke as Ellison Oswalt

Sinister is Derrickson's scary-as-hell new movie, a mix of the serial-killer, haunted house, and found footage takes on horror. It centers on an egotistical, once-successful-but-now struggling crime novelist named Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke in an utterly convincing performance). Oswalt is doing research for a new book about a house where a family was hanged from a tree, but one of the children went missing. So Oswalt packs up his wife and two young kids, despite their grudging submission, and moves into the house—without telling them of its creepy history. From the start, the headstrong Oswalt is clearly a selfish jerk, far more focused on his work than his family, and nothing will stand in the way of his pursuit of fame and fortune. And he's willing to sacrifice anything—everything—in that quest.

Upon moving into the new house, Oswalt finds a small box in the attic—yes, it's a horror movie, so he goes straight to the attic—with a projector and some Super 8 reels of film. These reels appear to be home videos, with the titles "Hanging Out," "Sleepy Time," "BBQ," "Pool Party," and "Lawn Work," but they turn out to be something else. They turn out to be films—extremely terrifying films—that depict the ritualistic murders of several families over the span of fifty years, including the murder Oswalt is investigating for his book (bet you can't guess its title from the list above). This is where Sinister is most effective in its horror, especially in its use of audio effects and a chilling score. Oswalt is haunted by what he finds, and quickly realizes that he and his family could somehow be linked to the murders and putting themselves in danger. He starts to drink heavily, lose sleep, and confide in a local deputy (James Ransone, in a failed attempt at comic relief). Still, he doesn't see any of this as a sign to give the footage to the police and get out of dodge—to protect his family. No, he sees it as his chance, his catalyst for regaining the success he once knew.

Creepy beings on the move

Creepy beings on the move

As Oswalt becomes totally, myopically absorbed by his quest, things only become darker and scarier around the house—thumping in the attic, strange children in the halls, and other terrifying images that Derrickson captures through cold yet intimate cinematography—and his family is put more and more at risk. Oswalt eventually discovers an obscure symbol in the murder films. This symbol, according to a local professor (Vincent D'Onofrio) who just so happens to be an expert on crime and the occult and who just so happens to be readily available on Skype, represents the Pagan deity Bagul, a deity to whom children were sacrificed. In the home movies, Oswalt discovers the face of the apparent killer, masked with white paint and large, chilling dark eyes—"Mr. Boogeyman," according to some drawings Oswalt has found, and likely the embodiment of Bagul—especially when we see them staring at us from the back yard.

See comments

Single Page

Page:123Next