Sinister: The Scariest Movie of the Year

Can you believe it? Horror is back! It's been years since a movie this downright well done, emotionally gripping, and ultimately terrifying hit the cinemas. It's no secret that I really enjoy the Paranormal Activity series because they provide fun scares, but, let's face it, none of those really left you bothered after the first one. They're gimmicky but fun enough that you get over it. That's been what I look forward to in October since it seems the real scares don't exist anymore in the sea of mediocre horror remakes and retreads of the greats. You know what, though? Rest assured, Sinister brings back clever horror with a heart - and a bite.

Director/Co-Writer Scott Derrickson with C. Robert Cargill created the kind of original and spooky horror film that will (ideally) scar a generation of young teenagers for life. It's so well done not because there's a big scary bad guy or lots of gore. No, this is a well done movie for a very simple reason: intelligence. I credit a lot of the intelligence of the script to co-writer C. Robert Cargill, who was a critic for years over at Aint It Cool News. This guy has seen crappy horror and knows what mistakes to avoid. It's so refreshing to see a film that could so easily fall into every cliche in the book even given its own story which seems to lend itself to the same plot directions that have been used and reused for decades.

The plot follows Ellison Oswalt (played perfectly by Ethan Hawke), a true crime novelist far past his prime. It's been ten years since his last big hit and he's quickly falling into obscurity, but he has a plan to change this. In his last attempt to reach at that fame he used to achieve, Ellison has moved his family into a small town house of a murdered family where one of the children went missing. Most presumed the missing girl was long dead, but Ellison decides to do some further investigation and make a difference by solving the case and reaching old glory. As he investigates the murders, he is drawn further and further away from his wife and two children as he finds a box of old Super 8 footage reels in the attic that depict the murders of multiple families. Has he stumbled upon a serial murder that the police missed? Even more concerning, there are strange symbols and a shadowy figure in the images that cannot be overlooked, nor should they be.

Ultimately, this is a film that proves how unfortunate trailers are. It's a paradoxical predicament; seeing some of the movie makes you want to see more, but seeing more spoils things and make you wish you were seeing it completely fresh. It's best to forget the trailers as best as you can and simply let this film take you on its wild ride. Oh, and wild it is. Something especially clever about the film is how, in a year of so many found footage films that they no longer really make much of an impact, here we have the story of a man who manages to find terrifying footage. We get the same shock of seeing something that could be real, filmed by someone who is not a trained cinematographer, and it impacts the real story. There's no need for characters to film themselves because it becomes part of the plot itself.

Mark my words, there will not be a scarier movie released this year. With a film like this that hits all the right notes and leaves you disturbed and upset, I can't see another movie being more effective. We've got our latest installment of Paranormal Activity but that simply cannot capture the fresh fear Sinister harnessed so masterfully. Of course, a very significant difference between the two types of films is the character work. Both work because they actually craft characters, not cardboard cutouts or hot teens. Paranormal doesn't tend to strive to make you really care or root for its protagonists, however. It works well enough that you are scared silly when the action starts, but the deaths really aren't anything too depressing. (I'm looking at you, Micah). Sinister takes the opposite and ultimately more disturbing approach of crafting a cast of believable and innocent characters that you really don't want to die.

Ethan Hawke leads the family in a flawed but human performance that is very, very good. If the casting was off, this film could easily have turned silly instead of scary. He sees the deaths of all these old families and it's terribly disturbing. This film, while not overtly gory or ever going anywhere near the torture porn heights of the Saw franchise, is not for the faint of heart. You see a lot of innocent families get murdered and it's really not pleasant, but it serves the story and adds such a fantastically creepy atmosphere that you cannot help but see these and get sucked into the mystery just as much as the main character. When the stakes get raised, you're upset not simply because there is a weird noise, but because you cannot accept that harm could happen to this family. It's not okay, but it seems so likely.

This is a great horror movie. Plain and simple, this is horror done right. It's horrifying but not gratuitous. It treats the audience with intelligence and realizes how far it can take itself in any direction. There are real scares here, not simply jump scares. If you're looking for a great scary movie this October, you really don't need to look any further than Sinister. As for Paranormal Activity 4 coming out next week, well, I've had my serving of terror. Now, I'm ready for the icing on the cake.

8/10