Original Post Date: 01.30.17
If you have not watched Sinister (2012) there are two things I need to tell you right now. One, you are a lucky bastard and I envy you (I would pay a small amount of money to be able to experience again the fear from when I first watched it). And two, this post will have mild spoilers so you better not continue reading and instead go watch it and call it a day (listen, I tell you this because I care).
Now, as for the rest of us, let’s relive the dark phenomenon that was Sinister.
For me, it all began last summer when I attended a seminar at ScareLA called “The Anticipation of Fear” by speaker Marc Straight, composer, sound designer, and creative director at Bad Jack Productions. Marc provided examples of horror movies and video games that made good use of music, lighting, and repetition, all to achieve the perfect scare for the audience. The movie Sinister was one of those examples; I was impressed, so I immediately wrote down SINISTER!! on my notebook, but then life happened and completely forgot to look into the film.
Fast forward to two days ago—Friday night—when my husband and I were browsing Netflix (below photo evidence of the momentous occasion lol) and stumbled upon Sinister, the Sinister. Long story short, I absolutely loved it and actually rewatched it a day ago—Saturday night—and purchased the DVD copy as well as the soundtrack. You could say Sinister hit me hard and made me lose my mind… yes… Sinister made me do it.
In my lifetime, there have been two movies which have truly scared me. I am talking about having physical reactions of fear such as sweaty palms, increased heart rate, muscle tension, alertness, etc. Ju-on (the original from Japan) was my first one; I watched it alone at night, in the dark, sitting on the bed, holding my knees close to my chest, both arms sore by the end of it. And Sinister was the second one; I watched it with my husband at night, in the dark, on the couch, holding hands whenever I sensed something bad was going to happen. You don’t forget about movies that made you feel like you were in real danger. The keyword here is ‘real’.
Sinister depended on the use of homemade movies. Some of us (yes, you and I) grew up with parents recording those special family moments on VHS or mini discs, and maybe if you lived in an extra cool home yours were recorded on Super 8mm, like the five families from the film.
The home movies were the essence of Sinister. All of the five home movies were terrifying as they were presented in very real day-to-day scenarios: at the backyard, at the front lawn, at the pool, at the car, in the bedroom. They all began as nice and innocent family moments until they turned violent, FAST! But why? And by whom? A home invader? Let’s watch:
The way the violent scenes were filmed reminded me of this video of mine where it was shot in complete darkness and the subject was illuminated by a single flash of light so you, the viewer, had no other option but to watch what I wanted you to watch when I wanted you to watch; in my case it was Day of the Dead ephemera, in Sinister’s case it was hanging, running over, drowning, burning, and stabbing.
Had the movie not ended the way it did, I guarantee you I would have had trouble sleeping at night, however, since it was revealed that supernatural demon Mr. Boogie aka Bughuul was behind the killings—well, the kids he possessed and abducted were actually the ones committing the killings—I felt relieved and pleasantly returned back to my safe reality. See? It was not a flesh-and-blood murderer, it was a controlling demon. Phew!
Now, I would like to leave you on a happy note, so please let me share with you two of my personal videos displaying my admiration for this movie. (Man, I love Sinister so much.)
In Love and Fear,
—Marath