This Saturday we had another lovely Filmspanarna meet-up. This time we turned the tables and met-up at the pub first before marching off in the Swedish blizzard to watch the horror film Sinister that was released in Sweden this week.
Check out my thoughts after the jump!
Sinister is about a halfway has-been crime biographer played by Ethan Hawke. He and his family move into a house where the family he is writing about was ritually mass murdered of course sh*t goes crazy when Ethan finds a bunch of home-shot Super 8 reels in the attic…
Sinister is a great film in so many levels that if I were to compile a best of 2012 films it would be my front-runner for now. It might not say that much since I’m extremely disappointed in the films that has come out so far and then I’ve seen Avengers (best of the high profile ones), Dark Knight Rises, Prometheus, Skyfall, Looper and Cabin in the Woods to mention a few.
Back to Sinister, the cinematography is brilliant. I know its high-praise but it was inspiring to see since I’m developing a couple horror scripts, where one feels like an odd Swedish cousin to Sinister. What I found so refreshing with the cinematography is how it used backdrops extremely effective. I was on my toes throughout the film always scanning the frame for possible scares (a lot of the times through my cob-webbed fingers). It was also naturalistically lit without going to dark which just tend to be annoying and distracting.
I can understand people claiming that its just another generic “family moves into a house” horror film with a found footage element being tossed in there. However, it still elevates beyond most of these films with horse lengths. To be honest it brought up some Poltergeist memories.
I don’t want to go to much into details other than go and see it!!!!!!
I can’t believe it hasn’t gotten praised more. The guys on /filmcast plugged it rightfully in one of their what have you been watching segments but other than that I’ve hardly seen any reviews of it at all. If you have written about it let me know in the comments.
I’m of course extremely interested to hear what your thoughts are on it if you have seen it, I might go into more details (spoilers) in the comments if you chime in.
Finally, don’t forget to check out my Swedish colleagues take on it! I believe the bloggers writing in Swedish have translation widgets on their sites so there is no excuse for not visiting them.
The Velvet Cafe (in English)
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
While I can agree that Sinister was a bit more above average in terms of the horror genre and the found footage style of horror film, it was still distinctly average to me. There were no real surprises. The scares were the generic quiet times and then a loud sound to give you a cheap scare. Ethan Hawke lifted the film a lot for me and the ending was pretty damn satisfying. Just the middle of the film left me a tad bored.
I can see where you are coming from but weren’t you scared during the film? I can accept all these cheestastic generic scenes (though very well executed ones) just because I sat on needles and half covered my face through-out the film.
Biggest let-down for me was the ”ballet” scene of kids and that the conclusion weren’t really grounded. I like the ending a lot but it doesn’t really make sense. I’m hoping for a prequel though which really could make sense if it was done right.
The scenes where they showed the old family movies did send chills down my spine. Purely because they were so damn dark and disturbing. But I wasn’t scared as such. I did think there were some stupid character decisions from Ethan Hawke’s character which made me want to yell at the screen. The usual stupid horror cliche moves.
Wow, unanimous praise for Sinister on all fronts
I agree with you that when looking at it from a distance it does not contain very much that is truly original (very few horror movies manage that) but when watching it you realise that it uses all those ”clichés” very cleverly. I’m not sure I would hold it above Cabin in the Woods, though. I thought Whedon managed his ending better.
Allow me to wildly disagree Cabin in the Woods was a big let-down in comparison. Sure the ending was kind of cool an unexpected but that entire film flaws because its never really scary in my mind. Its a horror parody that never gets either scary (until the end) or that funny.
Sinister might build on 2010 cliches but use them really well. Easily one of the best cinema experiences for myself in a long time.
No arguing from me in that respect, as a horror movie Cabin bombed quite spectacularly. I thought it was very funny, though. And at least smarter than the ”Not Another…”-parodies. Not very difficult, I’ll admit…
Eeeey! One happy Joel! We should see horrormovies more often
I liked it too. The end was a bit too cliche though. Wish they would’ve flipped out Insidious style. But i might be solo on that one.
This most be one of the most praised movies among Filmspanarna
The only scene that made me think WTF is the” ballet ghosts” otherwise the movie was good but i was dissapointed that i didn´t got more scared.
I’m so glad to see you genuinely enthusiastic about a recent movie. It’s been a while since I saw that last.
I’m not quite on the same page (as always). I would rank all the movies you mention higher than this one. It doesn’t stand a chance to end up on my top 10 list. It doesn’t stand out to me like that.
Haha, it’s funny. We’re all so happy for Joel, that he ”finally” enjoys a film.
Anyway, agree about the kid ballet scene. Just didn’t work. Went on too long, didn’t make sense. Also agree with Joel on Cabin the Woods. Not scary and not particularly funny.
For me, one big reason I give Sinsiter a high score was the cinema experience. The movie might not hold up if a view it at home later but the cinema experience is still worth high praise.
Not perfect as a stand-alone horror flick, but a perfect flick to watch around Halloween because it’s just scary enough to fully hit us with that spooky feeling. Watching Ethan Hawke run around in a scared daze actually made me more scared believe it or not. Great review.
hmmm I am kind of wuss when it comes to horror films. I think I might let one of the other guys handle this one. Pub before a movie is always a good idea!
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