Grown men screaming in the theatre!

Rating: 8/10 (15 October 2012)

I saw this last night at the theatre. It's the scariest, most tense horror film I have seen on the big screen since I saw Candyman 20 years ago and it's probably the scariest film I have seen since I saw The Ring, on DVD, about 10 years ago.
Sinister's clever use of sound and its creepy music score, a-la Candyman, is its biggest asset. I say an Oscar is deserved for Christopher Young who has outdone himself with sublime arrangements which bring depth and real terror alongside the visuals.
By instilling fear from the outset and implying a dreadful fate to the protagonist (which the viewer is hoping can be avoided but ultimately knows is lurking at the end), Sinister takes its influence from The Ring and keeps the tension building throughout the movie. It becomes almost unbearable in places! Whilst it doesn't really avoid the standard horror clichés of the last decade, Sinister manages to retain just enough credibility to keep the fear simmering in the audience.
The film is not without its flaws though. You might find yourself shaking your head on the odd occasion and the story, whilst decent and played out with good tempo, treads the fine line between supernatural and reality and, in my opinion, gets it slightly wrong but it's not really enough to spoil the result.
My adrenaline levels, after watching this, kept me from sleeping for another 3 hours, so be warned. It's been a while since I heard grown men scream in the cinema ...