Sinister
User Score
7.2 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 170 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 138 out of 170
  2. Mixed: 20 out of 170
  3. Negative: 12 out of 170

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  1. cenzorlord
    Oct 12, 2012
    2
    Sinister was a movie that I had happily be awaiting for some time. I really wanted to see if this movie could successfully scare me. The trailers looked good enough to convince me to drop 12 bucks and see what was up. What I got was a series of predicable scares, a villain who is completely useless, and road map for the last act of the film. If you pay attention to the movie, even with one eye open and half asleep, you can see every twist and turn this movie has coming by at least 10 mins before it does. Not to say the jump scares don't make you jump, they do, but for what? This movie is advertised as a horror movie with an actual story.. and sad to say It just isn't here. The last 5 min of the movie feel so lazy I was blown away, it just sort of stops. As if the movie is saying, "I'm bored of entertaining you... go home." I won't go into detail for spoiler sake, but instead of keeping adrenaline high an going out with a bang, this movie plays it safe, and you walk out of the theater with none of the scares or really anything for that matter to remember. I really wanted to love this movie and all it had to offer, but clearly this is one best saved for catching on a random day when it hits HBOGO.… Collapse
  2. oliver1h
    Dec 20, 2012
    3
    Cheap scares here! The movie is a real cliché of the horror genre. Boring, badly acted, pretentious, dull, no suspense at all. You can see the ending coming from a mile.......Ethan Hawke what a waste of talent there...
  3. Capta1n_Howdy
    Oct 14, 2012
    2
    I was very disappointed with this movie. It's filled to the brim with cliches and predictability. It's basically 110 minutes of mostly painfully bad acting, with some snuff films tucked inside. I thought there would have been more focus on the footage, like a Paranormal Activity type deal with a different spin on it,but I'm not basing my dissatisfaction on what I was expecting. It really didn't deliver much on scares or creepiness for me. I always expect horror movies to be bad on some level, in fact I enjoy that aspect to them, but this....just pass on this one. I do have to give some major respect for using a Boards of Canada song, though--that was a pleasant surprise.… Expand
  4. AkaLia
    Dec 7, 2012
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Sinister is one of those paranormal, occult movies I've been waiting to play in theaters; however, after watching this film I was left disappointed. The ending was too obvious. The storyline was dragged on, wasted, and never even met it's climax. The character's names aren't even memorable. It had the stereotypical annoying, jobless wife or the "housewife", creepy kids, and an obsessed writer. The writer of this film took no authentic advantages of the daughter who was seeing Stephanie, or the son and his night terrors. The son could of been dreaming and the demon thing could've started appearing in his dreams as if it was trying to possess him and that could've been why his night terrors were progressive; and, the daughter was used at the very end, but there were no evident changing behaviors like her drawing pictures of their family dying or her saying weird things. But, instead, It's like the children were just "there". There are no other settings in the movie, in which eliminates the chances for striking, memorable scenes or encounters. Happenings like the skinny policeman or deputy sneaking data for the dad's book and the old deputy/sheriff guy getting suspicious, or the old guy checking up on the dad trying to see what he's up to or taking his tapes and data. Or, kids being bullied, and teachers worried about the son or daughter's behavior or drawings. Or, neighbors and townspeople giving the family crazy looks or disapproval like the wife said they were. Or even, the dad could have hallucinated the demon/children soul-eater thing in a library when researching or asking neighbors about the past family who lived in that house. In his son's room, IT could've been standing or kneeling beside his son's bed while his son is sleeping and whispering into his son's ear of something to possess him all while the dad can't even see IT, then later his son has another night terror. Or, the dad could be hallucinating about IT in public places because of obsession to his "detective work". They never even showed the dad trying to start writing his new book. After they moved, that should have been the half-mark of the movie, because so much could have happened then. At the end, they could've at least added a special scene where the police find their bodies, take the tapes into evidence, then watch them appalled. Overall, although I expected more out of Sinister, the eerie sounds and music, the disturbing kill scenes, the creepy pool scene where you first see IT, the use of the manual, old, and new technology (homemade evidence board, film projector, and the laptop), and seeing Ethan Hawke in a new movie made it likeable.… Expand
  5. dharma
    Feb 16, 2013
    3
    If you want a better take of this story, watch the brilliant 'Insidious'. Sinister on the other hand feels so by the numbers...family moved to a house, said house is 'haunted'..BOO! While it tries so hard to be scary, it just ends up being boring. Avoid this.
  6. glacier777
    Nov 11, 2012
    4
    I'm not really a fan of horror movies and this one proved exactly why. I worked out what would happen very early on, the whole thing felt so formulaic and typical, not very original. It wasn't even scary either, in parts it was just slightly creepy and I even laughed at some 'scary' parts. Let me put it this way - the best part was when someone in the cinema fell over when they went to the loo.

    I have given it a four because it was made quite well and the acting wasn't bad.    … Expand
  7. CapnAwesome
    May 24, 2013
    0
    Horrible movie. Way too drawn out and not enough scares. The plot of this movie gives it a nice disturbing feel, but it is not a good horror film. I never felt scared the entire movie.

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
53 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 30 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 30
  3. Negative: 3 out of 30
  1. Arizona Republic
    Reviewed by: Bill Goodykoontz
    Oct 23, 2012
    80
    Now this is a scary movie. And, given that it's a horror film, that means it's a good one. [18 Oct 2012]
  2. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Joshua Rothkopf
    Oct 16, 2012
    60
    Sinister has so much going for it - adult psychology, a great bitchfest of a marital meltdown - that you wince when it finally makes some rather dull choices involving the supernatural.
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  3. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    Oct 14, 2012
    20
    Sinister did something I thought would be impossible: It made this lifelong horror freak abhor horror movies.
    Read full review
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