Sinister reviewed by Mark Kermode

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Mark Kermode reviews Sinister. A crime novelist finds footage of the murdered previous owners of his new home and awakens a supernatural force.

[@scottritchie5136]

Why in modern horror movies do they not turn on any lights, any strange noises in our place and I have it lighted up like a Christmas tree

[@the14thearlofgurney84]

Saw this with a friend, knowing nothing about it. It really made me uneasy but as Mark says, when it shows it's hand it starts to struggle a bit.

[@ColeEdits]

The soundtrack was the saving grace. Never have I felt so horrified since the glory days of John Carpenter.

[@WoahLookAtThatFreak]

@@RealistGunner Yeah, it doesn't have a lot of jump scares but I personally don't find jump scares particularly scary. Startling, sure, but not really scary. The lack of jump scares was the best part about it.

[@WoahLookAtThatFreak]

@@RealistGunner Well yeah, that's because horror is subjective and what scares you won't scare other people and vice versa. You say the scariest bit was at the end when Baghul does a pointless jumpscare at the audience, but I think it's the corniest bit.

[@babyshambler]

This was my first thought too. As soon as the 'scary' kids turned up I was disappointed. Rubbish ending and the only scares were cheap shock jumpy ones.

[@Waldowsky]

babyshambler kiss me

[@Friffs]

Where is he getting 'found footage' from?? It's a conventional psychological horror film. Ethan Hawkes character indeed finds footage but the horror genre of the film isn't a found footage film.

[@Waldowsky]

Friffs IKR

[@thirdman9825]

My thoughts exactly. Not a found footage film at all.

[@ZeppelinBigFan]

@@thirdman9825 most, if not all of the creepy scenes consist of those found footage clips though.

[@123rockfan]

Mark said that it was half of a found footage movie and that he could deal with that better than a full found footage movie

[@arby456]

He's being pretty harsh, I feel. Sinister is just about a four out of five film. First half very good, very creepy, and the second half manages fine enough, though the first half was a lot to live up to. And "found footage"? Really? He can't be much of a movie critic if he thinks this is found footage. Personally, I enjoyed this film. It didn't traumatize me like every "Hardcore" Horror Fan seems to think is required, but I enjoyed it, found it creepy and it made me jump. Good film. Must-see.

[@shougokawada8491]

5/10 is the most it deserves. The second half is completely clichéd and uninspired and on the whole it feels like a poor man's take on the classic Ringu.

[@HOCharles1]

The one thing that really irritated me about this film is that they use "hung" (fnarr) throughout. You would have thought a professional writer would know the past tense (when referring to death by hanging) is "hanged".

[@PRHILL9696]

I thought Sinister would suck but like most people I loved it!

[@outtour7518]

As soon as it went paranormal I lost interest, should of went down the serial killer path with the tapes

[@outtour7518]

@Marcus okay dude

[@dalyjohnny]

Hardly a found footage film... there's like 5 minutes in total of footage he watches. that is not what a "found footage" film is. Found Footage is when us the viewers are watching a film that looks as though it was personal recording by the characters that has since been discovered, and shown to us - not when a character in a movie discovers footage and NEVER breaks the 4th wall. Found footage breaks the 4th wall, this doesn't. Its not found footage. how can any critic not understand this?

[@ScotVideos]

Why no comments?

[@Taporeee]

@Scot. Yeah. Sinister,eh?

[@bartclark4402]

you should watch the ophanage then

[@pj1995____]

First 30 minutes are great, but as soon as those kids turn up, I checked out

[@chrishiggins7166]

The film maybe unoriginal & has A poor script, however the film’s still A well acted, stylish, well directed & is an intriguing horror film. (70%) (3.5/5 stars) (positive)

[@chanceie12]

great movie

[@lexer000]

Anyone kept shouting at them to SWITCH ON THE LIGHTS?

[@duartevader2101]

ME!! Man, I was so furious! The movie was so underexposed...

[@onthebeachinsitges]

Sinister is a great movie. Clever plot twist. Good acting. Great sound. Great atmosphere. Miles better than Insidious or Conjuring imho

[@rosserjake]

It didn't impress me much. I saw the Conjuring: Devil Made Me Do It a few weeks ago. Saw Sinister just now. These films seem to have the same tropes: possession, "scary" house, occultist symbol, cheap jump scares, etc. Maybe this would have scared me when I was 12.

[@samsquanch1996]

I hated this movie, it started out good with a creepy first half, but it got really silly in the second half and the ending was revealed like 20 minutes before the final scene so it really wasn't surprising.

[@jgillingwater9984]

I really enjoyed the first and second act, but, Dear God, the final third was just terrible.

[@jonathanr7754]

Absolute drivel. Only good moment was when the BoC track came on.

[@Stevensonnnnnn]

You know nothing, dad.

[@MrCostaC]

Got this one wrong Mark. Possibly one of the creepiest western horrors in decades

[@duartevader2101]

This movie was so underexposed...

[@ilikerice5208]

Do you mean like visually?

[@duartevader2101]

@@ilikerice5208, yes.