“Sinister” is the latest horror story involving “the boogeyman” with a new twist that is sure to strike fear in its audiences nationwide starting Oct. 12, 2012.
Ethan Hawke stars as Ellison, a true crime novelist whose bestselling novel was followed by two failures. Ellison moves his wife Tracy (Juliet Rylance) and two children, Trevor (Michael Hall D’Addario) and Ashley (Clare Foley) to a small town in Pennsylvania to get inspiration for his next novel.
The latest novel is based around the murder of a family and disappearance of their young daughter, Stephanie. Ellison fails to mention to his own family that the murders occurred inside their new house..
Ellison finds a box of “home movies” in the attic while moving in. These movies are on super 8 film rolls with an old projector.. The film’s writer C. Robert Cargill said that anything filmed by super 8’s comes across to an audience as frightening.
“The first scene of the movie is a nightmare I had,” said Cargill. “It was surreal to stand in the background and see someone else’s interpretation of it.”
Cargill is a movie critic whose experience writing and filming his own creation made “a world of difference” in the way that he views films.
“The art of creation causes a huge disconnect,” said Cargill. “It’s like a magic trick.Having made the movie it is hard to judge how good it is.”
Scott Derricksonis the director and co-writer of “Sinister.” His credits include “The Day the Earth Stood Still” and “The Exorcism of Emily Rose.”
“When working on a film that is not based on a true story, there is a burden that you don’t have to carry,” said Derrickson. “The underlying material in the Anneliese Michel case was disturbing.It’s more fun when you can make it up.”
Cargill created two dozen ideas for the different murder sequences in the film for Derrickson and himself to choose from. The most horrific scene of the movie is called “Lawn Work,” which they said was not originally supposed to be the most brutal.
The darkest part of the film is the violent acts committed involving children. Derrickson had a sit-down with each of the parents before their child auditioned for this film to inform them of the nature of the film.
“All the parents were good,” said Derrickson. “The kids loved it.The kids actually cried when they left because they were having so much fun.”
Derrickson brought his own children to the set during a scene in which his son, Trevor, was having a night terror and jumps out of a box. He said, “it is no different than Halloween, kids like scary things.”
The demonic presence in the film, “the Ghoul,” or Mr. Boogie as he is known by the children, was created through a process. Cargill said he had an idea behind the mechanics of “the Ghoul,” but what he lacked was the mythology.
He spent a lot of time pouring over books to find common threads between different mythologies and put them together to create an authentic mythological demon.
“I’m not a materialist,” said Derrickson. “I believe there is more to life than the material world and there’s more than can be defined and measured by science. Every person you meet either has seen or knows someone credible who has seen a ghost. I think there’s really compelling evidence for things like demon possession.”
Both writers are religious who believe that ghosts and demonic possessions are possible. Cargill said that he does not believe in ghosts on a “scary level,” but his religion leads him to believe that it’s a possibility.
“Sinister” is a horror film that can be compared to “The Shining” or “The Ring.” This film will be in theaters Oct. 12, 2012 and those who want a good scare will enjoy it.
