I watched the film Sinister over a month ago. On my birthday actually. What a present that was; a sleepless night and terror for the next two weeks? Thanks a lot.
Nah, I'm just joking with you, it didn't really scare me to the extent where I couldn't sleep or go in my attic for a while. It did scare me in the moment though.
It's not that the film is even scary, as such. It's just creepy and gross. If you don't know, Sinister is a film about a guy, more precisely an author named Ellison Oswalt, who moves his family of wife and two kids into a house that was previously inhabited by a family who were brutally murdered through hanging in their own backyard. The crime was nasty and not very pleasant at all. Did I mention that Oswalt KNEW what had happened here as well? But he hadn't told his wife? Yep, what a weird bastard.
Oh and it gets worse too. Oswalt is only there so he can write a book about the murders and regain his lost fame and money. What a douchebag. What a total, selfish, douchebag. His wife and kids, as I said, are unknowing about the controversy surrounding this place.
Of course, at the beginning you get to meet the stereotypical 'creepy' and 'weird' 'I don't like you' character, in this case a cop. He dislikes Oswalt for various reasons and basically tells him to fuck off. Well there goes his invitation to the house warming party. I thought cops were supposed to be friendly and helpful?
So to cut a long story short; he investigates the crime, finds some tapes of other murders committed in the attic, does some shiz here and some shiz there, argues with his wife, does this, that and this and that and that and this, argues some more, blah blah blah and finds out some weird stuff about the murder and other connected murders and some creepy demon thing or whatever, that could be behind it all.
Forget the story though, this film is supposed to be scary. That is its purpose in the world; to scare people. And does it succeed?
Well, it is one of the 'scariest films' I've seen, but not in a normal way.
Sinister is just downright gross, weird, creepy, and disturbing. It doesn't have a lot of jumps or blood, so what exactly makes it so hard to watch? It's hard to explain but the fact that this guy, Oswalt, finds these old tapes basically made up of people getting murdered in very disturbing (not bloody, just disturbing) instances in his attic and then watches them like you would the Indiana Jones trilogy (seriously, he even did himself a nice alcoholic drink while he watched them, why not go the full mile and buy some popcorn too?) is just weird. The tapes are weird. The whole thing is weird and not right. The murders themselves are nasty. The things that happen are just creepy. The bad guy is weird and disturbing. The whole story and setup is just wrong. It has this horrible dirty sheen to it that just makes your stomach turn. It made me feel ill watching it.
Admittedly I was shaken afterwards, and didn't want to leave the room on my own for a good while.
It's a pretty good watch, though, with great performances by the actors. I would consider watching it again. It's not a bad film, just very odd and stomach churning and creepy. I felt like I wanted to shower after it had ended, like I'd just been watching something dirty and bad.
You should watch it if you haven't already.
Going in the complete opposite way though, is a film I watched called Detachment. It features Adrien Brody, one of my favourite actors, and is directed by Tony Kaye, the same guy who did American History X, so you know you are gonna be getting a powerful film with a strong message that doesn't hold back on content.
It is basically about the education system and society in general. It has some truly brilliant performances and is gripping, to the point and just truthful. I'm considering writing a proper review for it because, being so excellent but also lesser known, I feel it deserves some proper credit.
Yeah so those are just two movies I wanted to quickly jot down. I recommend both! If you have anything to add or want to say something then go for it in the comments! Peace Troops.
