Sometimes people think that a list of the greatest Horror/Thrillers would be a list of the scariest movies ever made, but those are two different lists. A good Horror movie is so much more than the effectiveness of its scares, just like a good Murder Mystery is about more than the clever reveal of whodunit. In 2005, Scott Derrickson made an impression with The Exorcism of Emily Rose. It places so close to Sinister, it’s coming up this week. I also think it’s a better movie, but Sinister is on more lists and part of more conversations because it’s the scarier movie. In a recent science experiment, Sinister was declared the scariest movie ever made.
That’s how I came upon it. A friend rented the film and showed me the scene of the Super 8 film “Lawn Work ’04”. That hooked me. The film benefits from Ethan Hawke’s serious commitment, and a lighting design that often surrounds the frame in darkness. It’s a pretty good story, definitely original, but also quite silly. Not dumb, just the more it gets into the mythology the more you end up just watching for the film reels to present some new scare.
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