



★ ½ ☆ ☆ ☆





Sinister 2 sees young mother Courtney (Shannyn Sossamon) and her two young sons – on the run from an abusive husband/father – move into an abandoned house out in the sticks, only to find that their place of refuge has previously seen life as the stage of brutal killings, connected in some mysterious way to the murders of the previous film. Returning character Deputy So & So (no, really, that’s his actual name, check IMDB if you don’t believe me) tracks the paranormal happenings to Courtney’s new abode as her sons fall under the influence of a sinister presence. sees young mother Courtney (Shannyn Sossamon) and her two young sons – on the run from an abusive husband/father – move into an abandoned house out in the sticks, only to find that their place of refuge has previously seen life as the stage of brutal killings, connected in some mysterious way to the murders of the previous film. Returning character Deputy So & So (no, really, that’s his actual name, check IMDB if you don’t believe me) tracks the paranormal happenings to Courtney’s new abode as her sons fall under the influence of a sinister presence.





Sinister 2 labels as scary. I am now so numb to the cattle-prod effect of a jump-scare that it’s more like being prodded awake than shocked out of my skin. Well, that’s what the movie’s supposedly about, but in essence it’s 90 minutes of writer Scott Derrickson and co. turning to camera and saying ‘Kids are creepy, am I right guys!?’ That’s really all there is to it. There’s no sophistication or intelligence or even anything particularly scary, which some of you may have noticed is a problem with something marketed as ‘horror’. There’s a moment very early on in which the two boys are chasing each other through a supermarket when one turns to find the other is gone. His twin leaps up and frightens him, and that is the core of whatlabels as scary. I am now so numb to the cattle-prod effect of a jump-scare that it’s more like being prodded awake than shocked out of my skin.





Children of the Corn knock-offs, and whilst the mother and the deputy (who resembles Bruce Campbell just enough to make me wish I was watching Evil Dead instead) get some attempt at development, that’s not what the audience wants. The children and the ghostly apparitions that come to them in the night should be the ones we’re taught to care about and be frightened of, but the former are lazily written and the scariest feature of the latter is that the director gave their performance a thumbs-up! The characters of the film are also badly handled: the abusive husband is a laughable caricature, the two boys areknock-offs, and whilst the mother and the deputy (who resembles Bruce Campbell just enough to make me wish I was watchinginstead) get some attempt at development, that’s not what the audience wants. The children and the ghostly apparitions that come to them in the night should be the ones we’re taught to care about and be frightened of, but the former are lazily written and the scariest feature of the latter is that the director gave their performance a thumbs-up!





something for the film to hang from, right? Well, yes…if such a thing existed in the same universe as this film. I often complain about heavy exposition in genre flicks, but Sinister 2 actively withholds important information for no good reason. Then when it feels kinds enough to thrown the audience a bone, said fragments designed to explain the logic and motivations of the hauntings are compressed into a five-minute sequence with a paranormal investigator who fiddles with a scary radio before disappearing forever. But surely a well-constructed narrative could providefor the film to hang from, right? Well, yes…if such a thing existed in the same universe as this film. I often complain about heavy exposition in genre flicks, butactivelyimportant information for no good reason. Then when it feels kinds enough to thrown the audience a bone, said fragments designed to explain the logic and motivations of the hauntings are compressed into a five-minute sequence with a paranormal investigator who fiddles with a scary radio before disappearing forever.



