Interesting ideas diluted in a mess of cheesy horror cliches.

Rating: 4/10 (22 May 2018)

I'm always wary of advertising campaigns riding the coattails of big summer movies. It cheapens everything when a movie boasts the PRODUCERS of other horror movies, as though they're directors. I always expect a rehash of the aforementioned films into a familiar formula that will sell tickets. Sinister is most of those things.
The beginning of this movie looks promising, creating huge atmosphere; often at the cost of realism (nobody turns on a light in this movie!). Our true crime author protagonist (Ethan Hawke) intentionally moves into a murder house, hoping for inspiration for his new book. He hits the jackpot when he finds a bunch of snuff films in the attic (including the murder of the previous owners). They are genuinely creepy, and easily the redeeming quality of this movie. Then, of course, strange things start happening.
Shortly after this film dips into the paranormal, we spend the rest of the film drowning in a highly predictable mess of horror cliches. From ridiculous jump scares of faces popping out of the corner of the screen (think "TOASY" from the old Mortal Kombat games), to our antagonist wearing a Slipknot mask. The worst offender, however, are the ghost children and their awful makeup. It was cheap haunted house quality, and killed the atmosphere every time. Even the "plot twist" was easy to notice in the first half hour of the film.
Sinister is worth it to see the snuff films, but everything else may have you rolling your eyes.