"Sinister" ? Not really...

Rating: 6/10 (31 December 2013)

*NO SPOILER PART* This isn't a good horror. It starts off very well, it feels very genuine, actors are good, Hawke in particular. Unfortunately the film does what many recent horrors have done, from around 2005 onwards: they start off with a strong impression, good atmosphere, and capture the audience's attention. Eventually it's only a matter of time before its authenticity crumbles apart as the story wanders on, completely drops in intensity, predictability sets in big clichés appear, we start to lose focus and stop caring for the characters...bits and pieces copy/pasted directly from other films... ultimately, it's just a bit of a mess. There are good scares in this film though, and like I said the movie is well conducted for a good hour or so.
It could/should've been a lot more 'sinister' and genuine, as this movie highly relies on the footage Hawke finds and analyzes. If you're going to go for a snuff-type, vivid horror might as well go all the way and make it really weird, borderline disturbing. It feels completely amateurish and lacks courage. In fact, it feels so underdeveloped overall it feels like a short story that's been adapted to the big screen and stretches into a full length blockbuster. It's all too fugitive, the plot hangs about, and the fundamental elements never flourish to full life and it seems yet another consumable/disposable 90min experience.
*SPOILER PART* Of course, the haunted house theme this movie does touch on majorly isn't the most original, and this...: the freaking dark house the whole way. Ridiculous, turn the darn lights on !! Turn em on, turn em on !!! Oh, and Ethan Hawke really likes 'Apple'.
A sympathy 6/10 because it was still quite enjoyable though and never gets putridly boring, rather than 5/10.