It's in the title...

Rating: 9/10 (18 March 2013)

The creators of Paranormal Activity and Insidious stick to what they do best with Sinister. People live in a house, then comes something unexpected, and then the nightmare begins. The plot is ideal for not making the scares seem forced (a true-crime novelist has to investigate everything). These filmmakers have understood what frightens people. It's what we don't understand, feeling that we lose control, and being stuck with it. So we see disturbing Super 8-clips, ghosts of children, and an extremely creepy demon. The family is stuck with this house. And it's all accompanied by chilling, eerie soundtracks. Psychologically, it's devastating. Because it's that simple. So goes for the demon of the movie, named Bughuul (or Mr. Boogie). The whole concept of a demon actually lives in pictures and can (and will) get the ones who see him is a much needed original twist in supernatural horror. As for the thought of what he does, which is eating children, he becomes more and more frightening throughout the film. He is only shown on several brief occasions in the films, then one night, Ellison spots him in his backyard. The result? The feeling of something terribly wrong is completely out of hand, and Mr. Boogie becomes REALLY horrifying. The film has got humor as well, though. Officer "So-and-so" is the comical relief, and I laughed hard at Ellison's feeble attempts to defend himself when his wife found out that they had moved into a crime scene. But all in all, the constant building tension, the sneaking, claustrophobic feeling and the gruesome ending makes this a highly efficient horror movie. Sinister indeed.