Sinister 2 (2015)
Certified: 15
Duration: 97 minutes
Directed by: Ciaran Foy
Starring: James Ransone, Shannyn Sossamon, Robert Daniel Sloan, Dartanian Sloan, Lea Coco, Tate Ellington, John Beasley, Lucas Jade Zumann, Jaden Klein, Laila Haley, Caden M. Fritz, Olivia Rainey, Clare Foley, Nicholas King
KRS Releasing Ltd
Shannyn Sossamon is Courtney Collins, a wife and mother who has fled from her husband Clint (Lea Coco) with her twin sons, Dylan and Zachary (Robert Daniel Sloan and Dartanian Sloan). Clint does not accept this and has enough power to track her down.
Courtney ends up living in a country house next to a former church which was abandoned after a family murder took place in it. The house itself is creepy and very foreboding.
Dylan starts being visited by five ghost children at night. They are mostly controlled by Milo (Lucas Jade Zumann). One night, Dylan is led to the basement of the house where he is shown movies of families killed in a horrific and cruel manner.
It emerges that the films being shown to him are all of the families of the children that are visiting him. Behind all this are the manipulative hands of the Bughuul (Nicholas King), a demon who is always lurking in the dark.
The new perspectives give it its own mark and will give the viewers enough thrills
So & So (James Ransone), who is now no longer a deputy, is still following up the events from the first film. This has led to him going around finding houses he suspects have been tainted by the Bughuul and burning them down.
When he arrives at the same country house in which Courtney and her boys are living one can imagine his surprise. Things here turn round as he becomes the target for the Bughuul, who wants his sacrifice.
The first Sinister, released in 2012, was made on a $3 million budget and generated more than $75million in box office takings. It also starred Ethan Hawke. The second movie was made on a $10 million budget and has to date generated approximately $48 million.
Sinister 2 deviates from the suspense style and structure of the first movie. The sequel continues to build on the background and figure of the Bughuul, this bogeyman who is simply enamoured with the 8mm film, especially the effect that it has on his young prey.
The main difference here is that while in the first film the Bughuul kept a low profile and audiences were presented with a movie of two halves (a murder serial killer movie and a supernatural-driven horror film), this time around the presence of the demon is felt more and it leans more to the supernatural horror genre.
Another slant is that the film is mostly seen through the eyes of the children, which makes the movie and the snuff films that the children film even more disturbing. Their choices are at times shocking, especially those made by Dartanian Sloan’s character.
The movie also pays homage to the classic Children of the Corn (1984).
Ransone as the unnamed deputy from the first film is given a more prominent scope. He brings a likeable character who is terrorised with the multitude of jump scares that Foy throws at him.
The film comes with the inevitable familiarity syndrome of sequels but the new perspectives give it its own mark and will give the viewers enough thrills.