Monday, October 1, 2018

THE 31 MOVIES OF HORROR-WEEN: SINISTER 2 (2015) * ½


Well, the first Sinister didn’t exactly set the world on fire, but we got a sequel to it anyway.  If you remember Sinister, you’re already one up on me.  All I remember is Ethan Hawke cashing a paycheck by watching snuff movies in his attic until a white-faced boogeyman came to kill his family.  

This time around, it’s Shannyn Sossamon’s family’s turn to be menaced by the weird boogeyman dude.  She and her two sons are hiding out at a remote farmhouse from her asshole abusive ex.  While she’s busy playing footsie with a private investigator (James Ransone), her kids are busy being shown snuff movies by the ghost children that inhabit the house.  Naturally, it’s only a matter of time before they’re trying to make a snuff flick of their own.

Sinister 2 basically remakes the original in a new setting with a different cast.  The results are all-too familiar.  The family drama is relatively uninvolving, and Shannon Sossamyn is no Ethan Hawke either.  At least Ransone (who is soon to be seen in It 2) is amusing as the nerdy, well-meaning, but ultimately ineffective investigator who becomes the family’s de facto protector.  Whenever he’s onscreen, the flick is at the very least tolerable.

Unfortunately, the horror elements are woefully lackluster, which doesn’t help matters any.  The scenes of the ghost kids showing Sossamon’s sons their various snuff films quickly become repetitive.  Most of them go on and on without much of a payoff.  The only marginally effective sequence is the one involving rats gnawing their way out of people’s stomachs.  That’s about the only gnarly moment in an otherwise forgettable, unnecessary sequel.  If we had one or two more sequences of this caliber, it might’ve worked.  As it is, there’s nothing remotely sinister about Sinister 2.

Hey, are you wondering where my review for the original Sinister is?  Well, you can find it in my latest book, The Bloody Book of Horror, which is currently on sale at Amazon.  To get your copy, follow this handy link:  https://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Book-Horror-Mitch-Lovell/dp/1542566622/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1538450805&sr=8-3 

No comments:

Post a Comment