Eerie chiller ; the stuff of nightmares indeed!

Rating: 9/10 (22 October 2012)

SINISTER (2012) ***1/2 Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, Fred Dalton Thompson, James Ransone, Michael Hall D'Addario, Clare Foley, Vicent D'Onofrio, Nicholas King. Eerie chiller about a has- been hot shot crime novelist (effective Hawke) whose infatuation with his latest subject - an apparent serial killer of families - comes too-close-to-the-truth for comfort and discovers thru a mysterious cache collection of home movies the supernatural connection therein. With some moments of nerve-shredding tension and the occasional jolt the thriller moves on all cylinders largely thanks to its lead anti-hero and a truly disturbing soundtrack thanks largely to sound designers Marc Aramian and Dane A. Davis and score by Christopher Young. Director Scott Derrickson - who collaborated on the twisty-turny screenplay with C. Robert Cargill - pulls out all the stops and his ingenious use of video stocks make it very timeless and its creature, "Mr. Boogie" is downright scary; the stuff of nightmares indeed!