even Ethan Hawke couldn't save the unpleasantness that was this entire film

Rating: 3/10 (2 August 2016)

Coming from a non-horror movie fanatic and a downright sissy, I did not enjoy this film. Scary? Yes. Unpleasant? Yes. Depressing? Very much so. In fact, presumably your perfect specimen of an all round a+ horror film, however, not enjoyable in the least.
I'm an old-fashioned girl; I like my horror flicks to come with one of the following: something positive to maintain my (however mild) will to live throughout or, a somewhat happy ending. Sinister had neither. It was grisly, depressing, anxiety provoking and presented it's fair share of jump scares. In the midst of the (somewhat repetitive) suspense scenes there were moments of release, but not frequently enough to balance out the draining gloom the bulk of the movie consisted of.
While I understand that the point of the horror genre is to horrify, I detest the idea of a film that provides nothing positive whatsoever. While I did enjoy the score, the acting and for the most part the aesthetic side of Sinister, in terms of substance the film was exactly what the name predicts; sinister. So sinister in fact that post watching I felt cheated, robbed of 1hr 50mins of my life, planted with new psychological material for future paranoia/nightmares - and little else. I don't see much new that Sinister would have brought to the table of horror cinema, with its curse, slipknot-faced demon, child ghosts, found-footage snuff films, half-arsed cgi, jump scares, family moving to a haunted house and a protagonist who screws up his possible chance of survival with lack of communication. For a more horror-hearted cinephile who feeds on misery and hopelessness this might sit better, but for my soft self this was a pass.