SINISTER
(2012, Blu-ray released February 19, 2013 – MSRP CDN $39.99)
THE FILM:
- “Ten years ago, true crime writer Ellison Oswald made his reputation with a best-selling account of a notorious murder. Now, desperate to replicate the success of his first book, he moves his family into a home where the previous occupants were brutally executed and a child disappeared, hoping to find inspiration in the crime scene. In the home, Ellison discovers a cache of terrifying home movies, unwittingly opening the door into a nightmarish mystery.“
WHO SHOULD BUY:
Oh, man, Sinister, you had me nearly right up until the very end. It’s tough to talk about what works and what doesn’t with this film without spoiling it’s big hook and all the little treats along the way but I’ll tell you this, it’s one of the more effective horror-thrillers I’ve seen in ages.
Sinister spends a large part of the film developing character and mood, which is great. There’s nothing new here, though. In fact, you’ll swear you’ve seen all the characters before in many a horror film and you have. The originality comes in the setup of the fantastical elements – murders linked through old 8mm film reels stored in the attic of Ethan Hawke‘s new house. Where did these films come from? Who shot them? Why can’t Hawke destroy them? I’m not going to get into it here so as not to spoil everything but the answers won’t surprise seasoned horror movie viewers. But still, well done. Creepy. I just wished the filmmakers had opted for a different ending. I can’t go into the reasons why but the film wraps in a very unsatisfying way. The reveal is good enough, if not overdone, but not worth leaving the audience hanging in the fashion it does.
THE BLU-RAY DISC:
Thankfully, Sinister looks like a million bucks on Blu-ray. Shot on digital, the film transfers every dark frame as shot onto the well encoded disc. Surprisingly, for a film with this many scenes of darkness, the disc holds together very, very well. The DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 is reference quality, sporting one of the more immersive and dynamic soundtracks I’ve heard in a film of this genre.
If you’re looking to learn a lot about the production and the craft of filmmaking in particular, don’t miss the two director commentary tracks – the first focussing on the way the film was shot and second giving some serious time to the manner in which the script was assembled. Both featurettes clock in at around 10-minutes in length and deal with film-related topics in the real world. Both are worth a watch. Deleted scenes are also included.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Audio Commentary with Director Scott Derrickson
- Audio Commentary with Writers Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill
- “True Crime Authors” Featurette
- “Living in a House of Death” Featurette
- Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary by Scott Derrickson
