Surprisingly good horror

Rating: 7/10 (12 June 2013)

I went into this film knowing very little. The little description I had was that it was about a true-crime writer who, while investigating a family murder for his new book, finds a bunch of old homemade movies pointing at a bigger, serial-killer like plot. I expected another of the infamous 'lost footage' films, with the whole movie being just the homemade films (ie.: something akin to 'Cannibal Holocaust').
I was wrong. Pleasantly wrong.
'Sinister' is quite tense and moody, sometimes a bit too dark (I'm talking about the light here too, not just the mood), and with enough scary moments to make it work well. The plot is good and even intelligent, with the story tying up nicely any loose ends and transitioning from a seemingly 'serial-killer plot' to a supernatural horror very well; it's also without much nonsense, creating the horror feeling well without having to drag on. The cast (Ethan Hawke being the only one I recognize) is okay, but the movie doesn't really require much of them.
The movie is not without its faults, though. There is something akin to a 'plot twist', but one that introduces an element that has been used too much in recent horror (see: Ringu, Kairo, their American remakes and rip-offs) to be considered original; very predictable, even. There is a fair share of clichés, from the characters downgraded intellect in key or even common situations (when the police officer comes to the house for the first time, for example), to cheap scare scenes that serve no other purpose (the many times Hawke walks through his house in the dark of the night).
All in all, a good horror movie. Not going to be a classic, but stands out among the horde of crappy/idiotic horrors from the past few years, and should give anyone watching a good time.