Average at best

Rating: 5/10 (8 October 2012)

I went to watch Sinister with high expectations and to be left a shivering mess. I thought it would be one of those films where I was squeezing the arms of my seat, squinting, trying to keep my head pointed at the screen.
As it turned out I ended up laughing at most of the "fright moments". The scares were predictable, the plot after 20 minutes was obvious and the only real scare I got came at one point where Ethan Hawke has a baseball bat in his kitchen and the camera pans to show a child standing just over his shoulder.
The film takes every scary, supernatural, horror cliché and crams them into 109 minutes. The only thing missing was an Indian Burial ground - they even managed to get the deranged axe murderer into a movie about a Pagan deity. Why is it always Pagan?
Comedy relief is provided by a local policeman who crosses from genius to idiot in the space of 5 minutes, while completely juxtaposing the supposed serious character of Ethan Hawke as a once successful investigative real-life crime author, trying to rekindle the fame he once had.
The acting isn't bad, but it's not brilliant either. The film relies too heavily on the names of the cast and the marketing strategy of "From the makers of Insidious and Paranormal Activity" than any real plot substance. There is nothing new in this film, if you have saw more than a couple of horrors over the last few years – then you will find it hard to leave fulfilled.
The ending is slightly unexpected, but not enough to save the film and ultimately it leaves you disappointed. The final scene sums up the whole movie, if they have to give you "one final scare" just before the credits roll – then it probably wasn't worth it.
As it turns out the name of the bad guy demi-god was pretty close to how I felt about the film, Bagul was the name – Bagul-Crap was how I felt.