Seven years after mixing up the demonic possession sub-genre with The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which leaned heavily on court room drama and managed to get mixed feeling from horror fans, co-writer/director Scott Derrickson returns to all things horrific this time taking the "found footage" trend and spinning it in a new direction. Sinister proves he has a lot of interesting ideas to bring to the genre and, judging on this and Emily Rose, it's encouraging to see this type of stuff coming from someone who started off making one of the (too many) Hellraiser direct-to-DVD sequels.

True crime writer Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) has moved his family into a secluded country house in order to work on his new book. Having not had a hit in at least ten years, and looking for inspiration, he fails to inform them that the house just so happens to be the location a multiple murder took place - which explains why they got it so cheap. Turns out that the family that lived there prior, with the exception of their young daughter who went missing without a trace, were all strung-up from a tree in the backyard.

Not long after moving in, Ellison discovers a box of film canisters in the attic that are labeled to look like innocent vacation footage. However, upon diving into them, he soon learns that each reel is actual footage of various families meeting grisly ends. Obviously disturbed by this, but unable to turn away and give up on this lead (or the fame the book that he's writing is sure to gain), he starts drinking heavily and befriends a local deputy and starts digging into the mystery. Around the same time his family starts being threatened by a seemingly supernatural force. Could it be the work of the boogeyman figure he's uncovered on the film? Is there something bigger at work? And what's with all the creepy pictures his young daughter's started drawing on the walls?

Sinister is a slow-burn of a flick. Derrickson is happy making the first half more akin to a mystery than horror film and it works decently as he's developed Ellison and his brood well enough that once all the crazy, unexplained shit starts going down we sympathize for them. At the same time he portrays Ellison as the "broken" hero of our piece and, when he becomes a somewhat unlikeable cur later on, we know it's due to him being too obsessed with capturing past glories. Amongst all this, we wait for the next film can to be unveiled and it's these moments, and their grainy super-8 look, that gives the film its most effective moments. There's also some tense moments as Ellison searches the house, but a lot of that is due to Christopher Young's amazing score that blends in all sorts of sharp noises and eerie chanting. Then comes our twist which, in what's become a rare instance, I didn't see coming.

Last seen in the horror genre starring in the interesting, if flawed, Daybreakers, Hawke does a good job in the lead. He's managed to make his character's personality shift feel gradual rather than abrupt and, even though we don't like him at times, it's refreshing to see a hero with more problems than most. I didn't get a big impression from Juliet Rylance as Ellison's confused wife and also found Michael Hall D'Addario mostly bland as their older son, but they do their jobs fine. Clare Foley is suitably disturbed as Ashley once she starts getting visits from our missing girl. James Ransone gives the film mild comic relief as our star-struck deputy and gets a few chuckles from a couple of his sarcastic lines.

While I found Sinister to be a little bit overlong at almost two hours, I can still easily recommend it. Considering most horror flicks coming out of America are remakes, sequels, or lackluster at best; Derrickson and co-writer C. Robert Cargill have delivered a mature genre effort containing enough original ideas, well-done moments of suspense, and one Hell of a musical score for fans to chew on. It's great to see bigger studios taking a chance on something like this - even if Paranormal Activity 4 arrived a week later to stomp its moneymaking chances. (Chris Hartley, 10/24/12)

Directed By: Scott Derrickson.
Written By: Scott Derrickson, C. Robert Cargill.

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, Fred Dalton Thompson, James Ransone.