• R, 1 hr. 49 min.
  • Horror
  • Directed By:
    Scott Derrickson
    In Theaters:
    Oct 12, 2012 Wide
    On DVD:
    Feb 19, 2013
  • Lionsgate Films

Critic Review - Toronto Star

More stupid than scary, Sinister can't even figure out who its real demon is.

October 13, 2012 Full Review Source: Toronto Star | Comments (32)
Toronto Star
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Comments

Vincent Pieretti

Vincent Pieretti

You're obviously the stupid one

Oct 13 - 09:14 PM

Joe Slansky

Joe Slansky

c'mon that was one of the better horror flicks of all time!

Oct 13 - 10:40 PM

Lucinda Shale

Lucinda Shale

I agree with Vincent and Joe. . . To have thought this film was silly means that you lack the intellectual depth to have understood what the movie was trying to achieve. There was significant character development without handing everything to us on a plate, plenty of jumps even when you knew they were coming, the movie was gripping, there were no unnecessary scenes to bulk it out - every scene had a purpose, there was fantastic imagery and thought behind it. It was clever, twisted, original and depraved - what exactly were you looking for when you went to see this film, because it fulfilled everything that a good horror movie should have and more. I have very few negatives about this film.

Oct 14 - 12:14 AM

Ae-ja Seong

Ae-ja Seong

"To have thought this film was silly means that you lack the intellectual depth to have understood what the movie was trying to achieve."

You're a plebeian.

Oct 14 - 11:30 AM

Steve Mason

Steve Mason

lol @ "plebeian". You probably hate everyone.

Oct 30 - 12:53 PM

Basti-John Norman Artiaga

Basti-John Norman Artiaga

It is kinda stupid sorry

Oct 14 - 12:58 AM

Sam W.

Sam Wiidge

I'm a big horror fan and I loved this film. It was anything but stupid - on the contrary, the story was deep, not superficial, and the acting and script were solid. The scares and jumpy moments were effectively combined with a sinister and dark feeling that leaves the audience disturbed and horrified. This is how horror films should be done; not the silly, cliche stuff that passes for 'horror' nowadays. I couldn't disagree more with those who say it was banal or stupid. My advice to them? Go see the movie, and actually watch it this time.

Oct 14 - 03:45 AM

Sarah Louise

Sarah Louise

Clearly you are such a "big horror fan" that you have never seen Ringu, where it would appear that the majority of the influence for this film came from.

Oct 16 - 03:06 PM

Jaime Reyes

Jaime Reyes

I think that a majority of movies had to come from somewhere.

I mean I can't even tell what the stand point/purpose of your comment was.
It did nothing to critic or promote the movie (which is after all what Tomatoes is all about). If you want to lecture on others for not watching movies that happen to not be in their native country, go to facebook or something.

Oct 21 - 01:06 AM

Iain Dyce

Iain Dyce

This film was absolutely TERRORFYING unless you grew up with a father who looked like that demon no could sleep fine after seeing that freaky white face. you critics are stupid and always have been, ever since you called titanic good and star wars bad.

Oct 14 - 07:49 AM

Becky Mundy

Becky Mundy

I really enjoyed this movie and thought it was scary and fun. Of course it knew who the real demon is! The demon possessed the children. The children were too young to understand, so they call him Mr. Boogie, which also prevents giving it away too soon (unless you'd already figured it out...). Not too hard to understand.

Top critics should be above calling a movie "stupid". Sounds like a cop-out to me.

Oct 14 - 07:16 PM

Christopher Willard

Christopher Willard

I agree that calling the movie 'stupid' is childish, but the movie was not that good. The scares and story were so predictable, and the characters behaved in such ludicrous ways. Ethan's character must have forgotten that homes have lights, ever notice how the homes were dark 95% of the time in the movie? Even when paranormal things are occurring he just refuses to turn on a light, seriously? The jump scares were just cheap, you could predict everyone of them, so I have to say as a scary movie it failed.

I'm glad they took the route that they did for the ending minus the very few last scenes, totally ruined the vibe. Overall I would give the movie a 5/10, just for the hilarious cop and the ending.

Oct 18 - 10:00 PM

Gaby Castro

Gaby Castro

I agree with vincent and joe and lucinda. Them showing Baghul in the begining would have ruined the suspense. And the story wasnt even about him killing people if you noticed. It was about the father and the video tapes trying to solve everything. not just about the deity.

Oct 15 - 07:43 AM

Anthony Felix

Anthony Felix

Hey, I watched this movie and I loved it. You are so stupid to think this movie was stupid, sorry. I felt like saying something :D

Oct 15 - 04:20 PM

Charlotte L.

Charlotte Lomax

Some people are just never happy. In comparison to most drivel that comes out nowadays this movie is an unpredictable gem in a sea of plastic jewellery...

Oct 17 - 01:34 AM

Julia Longoria

Julia Longoria

Thank you this movie was terrible!

Oct 17 - 09:06 PM

Martin Cordier

Martin Cordier

Careful! This is rotten tomatoes! If you insult something anyone happens to like you will immediately be insulted and raged at!

Oct 31 - 05:52 AM

Raphaël Rivest

Raphaël Rivest

I am surprised to see the Tomatometer for this has gone so low when i actually thought it would get much better. I don't understand what can be so bad about this movie for a critic to actually hate it when i thought most of the things in it were done right. Oh well, can't agree with everyone!

Oct 18 - 09:09 AM

Karen Engels

Karen Engels

You are out of your cotton pickin' mind!

Oct 18 - 10:48 AM

Mitch Andrews

Mitch Andrews

you are stupid and your face is very scary

Oct 18 - 04:46 PM

Scott Mallon

Scott Mallon

it seems as if someone named peter howell didn't take the time to try and enjoy it. just immediately started trying to figure out how he would say it sucked. i figure you probably went into the movie thinking that.

Oct 18 - 10:14 PM

Chad Gibson

Chad Gibson

In your review you referred to Ethan Hawke's character as Ellison Osborne. I believe it's Oswalt. Also, google isn't as reliable of a source when compared to a police database. You should probably watch the movie again sir, and stop using google as a viable source.

Oct 20 - 07:29 AM

Dean Wirth

Dean Wirth

Peter you are so stupid, this movie is scary.

Oct 23 - 06:35 AM

Tom Martin

Tom Martin

well, I don't always google about the places i moved into, I doubt there are coral snakes and scorpions in Pennsylvania so he must have known he was hallucinating, and glasses, depends what is lacking in his vision. not everyone does as much research as you do, most of us are lazy.

Oct 23 - 06:57 PM

Ryan Phillips

Ryan Phillips

So it's a stupid movie because the character didn't use google? I'm sorry a 3 minute google search does not make an entertaining movie. I don't believe this guy has any reason to judge horror movies, in pretty much all good horror movies the protagonist does something stupid or irrational that usually results in their death, but if the only valid criticism you have is that the character went to classified police archives instead of "googling" the murders I'd say it's a pretty good movie.

Oct 28 - 12:17 PM

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