Every year at SXSW there is at least one “secret screening” which becomes a main topic of conversation for all festival goers.The debate and anticipation over what will be shown is almost always more enjoyable than what you end up getting. This year the exciting, and entirely improbable, rumor was that, since Joss Whedon was in town for Cabin in the Woods, we’d be getting The Avengers. People always seem to shoot for the stars with these predictions, even though history has shown that tentpole films NEVER show up in these slots.
This rumor was crushed early, however, as it was leaked that we’d be getting Sinister, an upcoming horror movie from local Aint It Cool critic C. Robert “Massawyrm” Cargill and Exorcism of Emily Rose director Scott Derrickson. So as delusional comic book fans shuffled away to other screenings or cheap drinks, I got in line to see if this critic turned screenwriter could add something new to the haunted house horror genre.
He could not.
Sinister tells the tale of a true crime author, played by Ethan Hawke, chasing the success of one of his early books, a success he’s been unable to repeat. He latches onto a new case of a bizarre family suicide and decides to make that the topic of his next book. He also decides the best way to get a feel for the crime is to move his family, unbeknownst to them, into the house where the event occurred. You can probably take it from here.
The problem with Sinister is not that it’s a bad movie, it’s really not. It’s just exactly what you’d expect from this kind of thing. The scares are telegraphed. The glossy filmmaking takes away from any visceral thrills. The supernatural villain is a bit silly. It’s just unmemorable in every way.
There is potential here for something truly unique and haunting, which makes the blandness all the more disappointing. The opening scene is truly unsettling and promises a different movie than the one you get. The opening shows a super 8 film of the suicide that is to become the subject of our leads next book. It’s shown in full and with minimal music or sound other than the clicking film reel. The method of suicide is different than anything I’ve seen before and I was really hoping that I was in for something not quite like anything I’ve seen before.
These super 8 films, more of which are discovered in the house, play a big role in the film and are all equally unsettling and shown in full. These are easily the best moments of the movie. They add an injection of style and horror that’s absent from the rest of the film, although their impact is lessened as the filmmakers decide to replace the unnerving silence with overwrought music.
The performances are solid and the personal drama of a writer so desperate to re-attain fame and glory that he endangers his family is actually well done. All the elements for something great are here, but they are just used as window dressing.
If you don’t mind the familiar formula and are just looking for an unchallenging horror flick to watch on Netflix with your girlfriend, you could certainly do worse than Sinister. It’s just hard not to pine for the movie it could have been.