Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Sinister’

Written by Scott Edwards 

Sometimes families have to move to make a better life for themselves. Whether it be to get away from their past or an opportunity to make a living, money can be a huge factor in a family packing up and moving to a new place as the jobs that are offered in their current areas are less than desirable. Even writers have to move, not because they are broke, but because they need a new inspiration for their next work.

Ellison Oswalt needs to find out more about the latest unsolved murder investigation location he's discovered and is taking his family along for the ride. With his wife and two children, Oswalt thinks that moving into the home of the recently deceased will be the best thing to get his next True-Crime novel going. Doing his research has always come easier for him when he stays around the locations of past murders and he is in desperate need of the money from another best seller. His wife Tracy is wary of the move but has faith in her husband to get his work done in a timely manner so they can return to living the high life.

While unpacking, Oswalt finds a box full of 8mm film and a projector in the attic and brings it down to his office for review. Looking like home movies, he does not think there will be anything out of the ordinary when viewing it but is gravely mistaken. Watching the first film, he sees the previous family of the house running around and having fun, but then the film cuts to show them all being hung from the tree in the back yard. Oswalt is disturbed by the images before him but has to watch it again with his digital video camera to record all of the images. With move movies in the box, Oswalt starts to watch them all and they all feature the same 'plot' involving family time, followed by horrific deaths. 

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Not feeling comfortable discussing what he has found with the local authorities, Oswalt keeps the tapes to himself and works harder on finding out what the connection is between them all. Seeing a strange symbol on each one of the films, he gets into contact with a professor at the local university that is able to decipher the symbols as one related to a Pagan deity named Bughoul, the eater of children. When all of the research is done on these murders, one of the children is always missing from the family and that adds up to the professor’s conclusion. Trying to come to a more down to earth solution to this, Oswalt finds that he is in for more than a bestselling novel, but a battle for his own survival. 

Sinister follows True-Crime novelist Ellison Oswalt as he tries to uncover the truth behind some heinous acts that he has seen on film. Working with a local deputy, he finds that all of these families are connected in one way, their addresses. With some strange things going on around the house, his daughter drawing some disturbing images on the walls along with his son experiencing terrible night terrors, he is staring to figure out that there may be more to this than just the murders, his family may be under attack from ghosts. With a ghostly figure showing up in the films as well, Oswalt is starting to wonder if he is losing his own mind while he finds solace in sleeping with his baseball bat to protect him.

A fun, well-acted film that takes you down the road of murder, hauntings, and possession, and the father of the family trying to protect his own ideals, along with his family, makes this story very disturbing at times. Seeing someone who thinks that they are losing their mind and no one else believing what is going on, it makes you wonder what reality is and what is in your mind, just playing tricks on you. When another member of the family is starting to see what he is seeing, that is when the movie takes a turn for the dark and will leave you watching in disbelief. Stay Scared.

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