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)

THE CONJURING (2013)

Written by the twins from RAD (yes, including the one that grabbed his own ass while dancing), THE CONJURING tells the story of a family - husband, wife, five daughters - who move into a old house out in the country...a haunted house.  The normal stuff happens at first (creaking doors, cold chills, rancid meat smells, pictures falling off the walls, etc.), but when the hauntings become more violent, the parents bring in a husband and wife team of paranormal investigators.  The standard haunted house exorcism movie stuff follows.

Despite the the fact that the story is totally 100% unoriginal, I actually enjoyed THE CONJURING mainly thanks to the leadership of director James Wan who, as you can see in the extras, really turns this average story into a thoroughly entertaining film.  Good pace, mature scares (none of that annoying 4,000 decibel jump scene bullshit), excellent production values, impressive cast (I really enjoyed Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson), strong camerawork and some seriously creepy situations.

THE CONJURING is a good film, but in my personal opinion I really wish the tension would have just kept building and building until it finally exploded into a grand finale of pure unrelenting blasphemy, gore and violence beating the audiences brains to death.  But that's just me.  As it is, it's still a fun, light-weight haunted house movie.  I'm looking forward to seeing what else this series brings.

Part 2 - The Conjuring 2 (2016)
Part 3 - The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)
Annabelle spin-off 1 - Annabelle (2014)
Annabelle spin-off 2 - Annabelle: Creation (2017)
Annabelle spin-off 3 - Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
The Nun spin-off (2018)
The Nun II (2023)