Scary, disturbing, and well-written: A horror movie for the decade

Rating: 8/10 (11 October 2012)

I have been waiting to see Sinister since the first buzz about it at the SXSW festival. I finally saw it and it fulfilled most of my expectations.
Horror movies are made of different traditions and styles. You have those with creepy atmosphere, those with disturbing imagery, or those with scares-that-go-bump-in-the- night. Sinister is one of the few that reaches a consistent mix of all the elements. In the movie, a true-crime writer moves into a house where a family was killed, and founds a box of super8 reels that depict that murder, as well as others. The super8 movies provide the "disturbing imagery" part of Sinister, and they are truly chilling and unsettling. Hidden in the footage, the writer finds glimpses of a mysterious figure, and his investigation suddenly turns into a nightmare for him and his own family. That's where the "creepy atmosphere" sets in. And, as his investigation progresses, you have plenty of sudden scares and jumps.
Thanks to an amazing camera work, a skillful direction, and an a perfect (and slightly atypical for horror flicks) soundtrack, Sinister manages to be extremely effective in delivering all of these different shades of horror. Sinister also has a quality that most horror movies lack: It is actually well written. Some reviewers have gone at great lengths in pointing out supposed inconsistencies, but, as far as I can tell, they have all misunderstood several plot points. For instance, a few reviewers ridiculed the fact that the main character wonders in his house without turning the lights on---but, in the movie, it is explained that the electric circuits are off. If you pay attention, every action is explained. In fact, it is refreshing to see an horror movie that doesn't feel half-backed, and where characters act consequentially.
One of Sinister's writers was a former movie critic (at Ain't It Cool News), and his love for the genre (strong as it needs to be in a fan, but sophisticated as it needs to be in critic) comes through. The quality of its writing is apparent in the smoothness of the final product. Most horror movies tend to be discontinuous and uneven. For instance, before getting to the interesting part of "Paranormal Activity", you need to get through a lengthy and cumbersome introduction. And "Insidious", after a fantastic first half, ends with a predictable and awkward second act. Sinister, instead, proceeds evenly, pacing its scares, revealing important clues at the proper time, and giving equal attention to the buildup of the situations as well as their resolution.
Part of this strength comes from the fact that the movie's concept, while not entirely original, is well thought out. The metaphor of the "evil force" that lives inside the world of images is better developed here than in (for instance) "The ring", and does not fill shoe-horned as a metaphor for horror movies themselves.
The last strength of the movie that I want to mention is Ethan Hawke's exceptional performance. Hawke is truly believable as the writer obsessed with finding one last great story to tell---and eventually getting more than what he asked for. He succeeds in making his character complex and credible, and in making the viewers care for and identify with him. I am hard press to find a similarly convincing performance in a horror movie, besides George C. Scott in "The Changeling".