Hawke goes horrorshow.

Rating: 6/10 (27 May 2013)

Horror veteran Scott Derrickson (Hellraiser: Inferno, The Exorcism of Emily Rose) returns to his favourite genre with Sinister, a peculiar, prodding and probing film that, like most horrors, has its quality dictated by the type of audience watching it.
Ethan Hawke plays Ellison, a true crime writer who takes his work a little too seriously. Not content to simply research his cases, Ellison insists on a more hands-on experience in his quest for justice. When he moves his unwitting family to a new home, recently placed on the market courtesy of the last owners being hanged in their backyard, Ellison learns that the grisly details of the case extend far beyond this gruesome incident. Whoever is behind the crime has tallied victims all over the US since the mid-60s, while the only thread linking one crime to the next is the killer's sparing of the youngest child.
Sinister spends most of its first half as a police procedural infused with horror, rather than the other way around, and works quite well in that regard. Despite a mostly derivative supporting cast, Hawke is engaging as a determined man tortured by his insatiable curiosity, and watching him piece together the clues- with virtually no help from the police force he has so viciously antagonised in his books- makes for magnetic viewing.
Inevitably, though, there comes that unmistakable moment that confirms Sinister will be moving in a more supernatural direction, bringing with it a bloodbath of modern horror clichés, including creepy kids, men in masks and occult imagery. Lone viewers are likely to see through the cheesy final act, but this is exactly the kind of film that would be eaten up by a big crowd keen for some cheap scares.
Sinister does (only just) enough to keep itself out of 'B-grade schlock' territory, and is entertaining enough to keep most viewers from counting down the minutes to its admittedly brave climax, but its lack of atmosphere and abundance of familiarity make this less of a gamer changer, and more of a fun night in.
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