SINISTER (2012)

A true crime writer (Ethan Hawke), desperate for another hit, moves his family, (without telling them of the houses' history!!!), to a house where the previous family was executed.  The four murders were never solved.  On moving day, he finds a box in the attic labeled "home movies".  He watches the films and they end up being snuff films of a mysterious dude called Mr. Boogie killing families.  Hawke is understandably freaked out, but not enough to call the cops because he thinks that the films could be used as material for his next bestseller.  Soon, things start going bump in the night and any tension or creepiness that was created early on in the film with the snuff films is soon replaced by a by-the-numbers final act that any observant horror fan could see coming a mile away.

The first glimpse of Mr. Boogie (underwater in a snuff film) was truly terrifying, but then, as time goes by, the mystery is replaced with the standard supernatural demon stuff and I started to get bored.  Definite kudos for a creepy idea and the awesome snuff films, but overall SINISTER is a cool idea that became a missed opportunity thanks to a inconsistent script, a weak finale, unneeded jump scenes, Hawke's complete disregard for his family's safety and a killer that started out cool but in the end turned out to be a dork.

Not a bad film, but I personally think the entire thing would have been creepier if Mr. Boogiebritches was a real person and not just another demon-black-metal-wrestler-looking Slipknot reject.  Yawn! 

Worth a watch, but nothing to get excited about.  Hell, there's not even any nudity or blood!

Part 2 - Sinister 2 (2015)