[BLOG] Sinister

[tsoiboy]

Lovely to see Fmuker's tonight from Valda. Who was quite excited to be seen on a Tweet. Also nice to meet Prettyxcool for the first time too and spotting ejwrank, david and MrG from a far.

I'm not really a horror film fan and to be honest a bit of a scaredy cat. Maybe it's because I have a nervous disposition. Most horror films of recent have just been gore flicks where the horror is just the shock value and gruesome/macabre deaths involved with the exception of "Cabin in the Woods." This film does not fall into this gore category and is quite run of the mill.

I had high expectations for this film as it has Ethan Hawke in it and he normally chooses quite good films to be in. Oh, how the mighty have fallen from Dead Poet's Society and Gattica and now to this.

To be honest the first half was fine and worked quite well in building up a story and then the second half just dragged becoming quite pedestrian and formulaic. Where you have seen it before and waiting for the shock moment. The sound and sound track was good and added to the film to give it some much needed suspense. The best bit was when Ethan Hawke interacted with deputy so and so. This provided some comedy to the film.

At 110 minutes it was a bit long and some choice editing to trim it down to about 100 minutes would have made the film work better. Again it just seemed to drag and I just kept looking at my watch every 10 minutes. Maybe it is because I do not enjoy horror films that I kept looking at my watch all the time.

5/10

[tsoiboy]

What? Were they watching the same film!
On twitter:

The things people will say for a free DVD.

[Jayman]

I give up on critics: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sinister_2012/

[Avisute]

We were approached for filmed feedback by a terribly bouncy blond woman - a typical media type. She kept saying "Isn't it the best horror film you have ever seen?!? Sooooooo frightening!"

Needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed the look on her face when we gave her our honest review, especially telling her that we thought the second half was crap and a huge let down which was similar to the ridiculous ending of Insidious (which actually had me laughing!). Obviously after that point she left us alone and didn't want to film us!!!

[Snowwhite]

saw this tonight ans was surprised with the amount of people almost full!!
i didnt think the film was as scary as i had anticipated, there were a few jumpy moments but nothing really frightening, not really the best film but it was okay i guess

5/10

[TheyCallMeMrGlass]

BOOOOOO!!!!! Did I scare ya, did I scare ya, huh, huh??? That's pretty much the "imaginative" technique used throughout this immensely dissapointing entry in the supernatural genre. So yeah, I have to agree with everyone here, this was pretty mediocre. The actors were actually pretty good though and there was some light comic relief from a young police officer fan of the main character. The story was ok, there was intrigue but it didnt amount to much, there are revelations but rather predictable. I didnt realise Ethan Hawke was in this, obviously I had done a lot of research on this film

The jumps were not only cheap but were so obviously signposted too, it was almost comical...well not almost, was comical. You'll probably get better jumps from a Popcorn machine:



Thanks to EJWrank and David for being great company, and eagle eye David spotted PXC, and Tsoiboy at a distance, cool to see you guys too (Sorry I didnt spot you though Valda).

Despite the fact the film was very disappointing, I am nevertheless quite surprised that absolutely no one clapped when the film finished. Reason I expected at least a small ripple of applause is because there were representatives on the stage who introduced the film so I had my hands ready for the customary applause which is always a nice gesture to return after their efforts to introduce and gee up our anticipation for the film but my hands ended up frozen in mid air. Was the movie THAT BAD then??? Guess so, as there were some sniggers in the crowd as everyone got up to left.

5/10

[andrew.falconer]

Was the movie THAT BAD then??? Guess so, as there were some sniggers in the crowd as everyone got up to left.

I did laugh at the end of the movie, but that was only because everyone was expecting the final "scare" moment and it was quite cheesey. I didn't realise that a member of Slipknot would play the baddie though

[ladams888]

Saw this last night at the West End Vue. Screening was very badly organised - nobody knew if it was meant to start at 5:45 or 6:30. We got there at 5:40 only to be turned away and told to come back in 20 minutes. When we did so, there was an enormous queue stretching right round the entrance hall of the cinema. We continued to queue for a further 20 minutes and then we all needed to complete and sign disclaimers. When we had eventually reached the head of the queue we were allowed into the upstairs bar - and hey presto - another completely disorganised queue. I would like to say - Hey, guys, this isn't Disneyworld - so why not just let us all into the cinema in an orderly fashion and skip all the queuing unless you can organise them properly. Because of this chaos, the film started 15 minutes late - inexcusable considering most people had been there since 5:45. Once we were actually sitting down the auditorium was extremely hot and uncomfortable.

Now to the film - a run of the mill and predictable scary movie - family moves into a house previously occupied by a family of murder victims. Hey ho - bumps in the night, creaking floorboards, amateur film footage and loud noises to make you jump. However the film was full of plotholes - do you mean to say the wife honestly did not know the history of the house they had just b*ght - and bad acting complete with stereotypical portraying of Hicksville US cops. Would I recommend - no. I'd give it 3/10. Plus side - free water (also free popcorn but as I only like the salted variety, that was left behind).

[Jayman]

Plus side - free water (also free popcorn but as I only like the salted variety, that was left behind).

They had placed both sweet and salty popcorn on the seats.

That's right, I just replied to the least important part of your post.

[Flabber]

Was the movie THAT BAD then??? Guess so, as there were some sniggers in the crowd as everyone got up to left.

I did laugh at the end of the movie, but that was only because everyone was expecting the final "scare" moment and it was quite cheesey. I didn't realise that a member of Slipknot would play the baddie though

That's exactly what I thought... actually put that in my feedback to SFF

I thought this was dire, with maybe one or two 'jump out of your seat' scary moments.
I saw the trailers and thought it would be quite good... with Ethan Hawke nonetheless. Oh to be disappointed!
Had I known this was 'by the producers of Paranormal Activity and Insidious' I may have avoided.

3/10 at best for me. Just too many unexplained links [spoiler]the images in the book: the scorpion, snake and the other one[/spoiler], the ending, and [spoiler]the boogie man[/spoiler]... at least the cop was kinda funny.