For the life of me, I cannot understand how “Sinister 2” (2015) is getting such bad reviews. It’s a well made, terrifying horror movie that actually exceeds the 2012 original, which itself was superb. I’d cheerfully give it a 9 out of 10.
These films have a hell of a story setup. I won’t describe it in detail here, to avoid spoilers for either movie. Suffice to say, it is disturbing, even by horror movie standards. If your standard fare is disposable slasher flicks, bump-in-the-night ghost stories, larger-than-life survival fantasies like zombie movies — beware! This film take it up a notch. (As Nigel Tufnel once expounded, “This one goes to 11.”)
The movie depicts a demon who is responsible for the ostentatious, ritualistic murders of entire families. If that isn’t bad enough, his exact modus operandi is … gut wrenching. I can’t imagine what kind of pathological muse spoke to screenwriters Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill in coming up with this s@#$. Yeesh!!!
I actually thought this was much scarier than the first “Sinister.” (A caveat — I’m pretty sure I’m alone here; it seems like nearly everyone else panned this movie.)
First, the demon’s sickening systematic methods here are examined in detail. (The first movie worked as a mystery, in which these methods are gradually discovered by an investigative journalist.) We examine in greater depth the 8MM film strips that serve as a story device. (I don’t think I am revealing too much here, as they are shown in every ad for the movie.)
Second, we have a protagonist here that we can actually care about. It is none other than “Deputy So-And-So” (nicely played by James Ransone), the supporting character from the first film, who turns out to be a surprisingly likable anti-hero. He’s got character and charm that Ethan Hawke’s arrogant true-crime writer utterly lacked in the first movie. (It was the screenwriters’ fault, not the immensely talented Hawke’s, by the way.) We’ve got a nice guy that we can care about and root for. The imperiled family here is also more likable; the writer’s family in “Sinister” was portrayed in little depth.
Seriously, this is a highly disturbing horror movie, if that’s what you’re in the mood for. The “Christmas morning” scene really got under my skin. My fellow horror fans might skewer me for saying this, but it scared me as much as anything in “The Shining” (1980). It … just … YEESH, man!!
One quick final note — at the very end of the movie, I came up with my own twist ending; I’m surprised they didn’t go with it. It contains a spoiler, so I explain it after the jump beneath the poster below.
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 