Movie Review – Sinister II

I was quite a fan of Sinister.  It was creepy, spooky, and had a great atmosphere.  There was a touch of humor, some very well-shot scenes, and everything felt dark and shadowy.  Bhughul was menacing and rarely-seen, the “home movies” were disturbing, and the clues of how things worked were interesting and had to be hunted down one by one.

Sinister II suffers the fate many sequels do: the secrets and known, and the excitement is gone.  So they try to make up for it by giving us more of the same: more Bhughul and more “home movies.”  But Bhughul works best when barely and rarely seen – he loses his sinister quality if he hangs around all the time.  And the home movies aren’t creepy any longer, just more graphic.

The plot shows a little imagination, but not enough.  The Deputy from Sinister (James Ransone) now understands the pattern that leads to the murders, so he is travelling around following clues and then trying to stop the next massacre from taking place.  Unfortunately, when he arrives to burn down a farmhouse and church he unexpectedly finds it is occupied by Courtney (Shannon Sossamon) and her two sons; they’re on the run from an abusive spouse/father.  So now the Deputy must try to find another way of breaking the chain of events.

There are still some jumps and scares, but the creepiness is really gone.  Children already taken by Bhughul try to draw the youngest son in by showing him their movies, but the kinds aren’t even slightly creepy.  And the home movies are just bloodier or more grotesque than in Sinister.

If you haven’t seen the original, see it.  I loved it.  If you have, and can catch Sinister II on Netflix or something, and you can keep your expectations low, it won’t be a waste of time.  But don’t anticipate seeing anything as entertaining and clever as the first film.