Sinister - Full Film Analysis

1. Sinister
Sinister is a supernatural horror film that was released in 2012. The film was
produced by Jason Blum and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and directed byScott
Derrickson. Summit Entertainment and Momentum Pictures also distributed the
film.
The film looks at the family of main
character Ellison, who is a crime
writer. He and his family move into a
house that happened to have a brutal
murder take place there, although
none of the family is aware of this
except Ellison. He thinks that by living
here he will uncover more truths
behind what happened to the family, as they were all hung however one young
daughter of the family went missing. Ellison soon finds a bunch of tapes in the attic,
what he believes to be home movies however after inspection he see’s they are the
murders of several families and with further investigation he see’s the same person
in the background of all. Later he finds that his name is Mr Boogie. Ellison seeks help
from investigators to find out more about this, but he is soon haunted himself by the
man. He has found that out of all the death tapes one child has gone missing during
the deaths of their family. Ellison’s children are having weird experiences, his son his
having fits and his daughter is painting odd images and talking to the disappeared
children. He decides to move everyone back to their old house, however this is what
pushes the family into Mr Boogie’s trap. Each family previously lived in the dead
families house, then moved away. Ellison finds another box of tapes in the attic to
which is of the missing children appearing on screen assisting the death of their
family. To which then Ellison is drugged, and his daughter is the one to have done it
and follows the rest of the stories, killing her family along with Mr Boogie.
Suspense is built up over the film due to many elements, one being that we are kept
in the unknown for a long time. Clues are slowly revealed to us giving the viewer a
taste to the truth but still wanted even more. This is a trick used in horror films
because it creates a tension that puts the viewers on edge and then easily more
scared.
The lighting throughout the film is very dark, with a lot of the film occurring at night.
This adds an eerie feel as in the dark people feel even more vulnerable due to the
fact that their sight is very limited and you can’t see what is hiding behind things.
Another detail of the lighting is that in all of the dark death videos the face of the
man (Mr Boogie) and the symbol of Bughuul (which Mr Boogie belongs to) is always
lighted ever so slightly more compared to the rest of the scene. This is due to the
fact that our eyes will be drawn to it,
and throughout the dark seeing these
will instantly put the viewer on edge as
they are not expected.

2. Special effects are a big part of modern horror films, this is because they create very
realistic looking things – that of course can’t be done in real life easily. These effects
allow the horror genre to branch out even further creating imagery that wasn’t
possible earlier on. In this film they deem huge importance due to it being a
supernatural horror. The special effects are needed to create the eerie paranormal
scenes, like the scene in which an image of Mr Boogie is on the laptop screen and
then his head turns. Little things like this add to the tension we as an audience
experience as we just aren’t expecting it, and it is completely out of the ordinary.
Sound throughout horror films has progressed as our understanding and capability
to produce different sounds and melodies has increased. In the film fear and
insecurity are the main themes that the producers wanted the audience to feel to
create the scary feel. This is done throughout the use of non diegetic sound. This is
what adds more tension through the film as music subconsciously influences how we
feel. Low minor keys sound very uneasy and make us apprehensive and feel on edge,
giving us a hint that something bad is going to take place.
The film focuses on the children and
how they are so vulnerable (due to
them being possessed) but also the
power they can hold (them killing their
family). This is a very interesting and
different aspect and is a theme that will
haunt viewers. Also due to the fact is is
a supernatural film and as an audience
you get to piece together the clues to create the final conclusion. This gives the
audience a chance to get involved and even more drawn into the film as they are
trying to piece the puzzle together looking out for any further hints. The film looks at
the comparison of good vs evil like Levi-Strauss and Barthe’s theory.