Had Potential but Just Another Generic Modern Horror

Rating: 2/10 (20 October 2012)

Every now and then I kid myself into thinking that the latest Hollywood Horror, which has all the hallmarks of the tired old formula, will actually be a bit different and rise above the rest. In the process Ill drag all my friends along to see it, under duress, and end up having to admit that once again my instincts were wrong... and that's exactly what happened here.
Sinister could have been creepy and for fleeting moments it was, but for the majority of it the scares were cheap and the plot was tacked-on and unoriginal. My biggest gripe of all is the unnecessary use of the dead/undead/possessed children format; to say that Hollywood has over- used the concept is redundant but as soon as this film revealed the first pale, head-tilted, expressionless kid I actually felt embarrassed, which is a new emotion for me when watching a horror film.
The home movies had potential but were just a cheap method for shoe- horning in some disturbing sequences without a need for the plot to actually take the audience on a journey to get there.
It wasn't all bad and there were some moments which briefly took the film off its generic course, for example the scenes between Ethan Hawke and the slightly odd 'Deputy so and so'; their interactions were awkward and some-what surreal but ended up being the best bits of the film.
All in all I think there is still a market for this sort of film and there is still a large proportion of film-goers who will equate the interjection of shockingly loud, unexpected noises and evil children with effective Horror, but for me I need a film that makes me feel rather than just see and this fell way short of the mark.