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A Movie I Love

 "Sinister" is a movie with a terrible title. I'm fully against affixing a lazy adjective to a movie--and calling it a day. This would be like re-christening "Anna Karenina" as "Sad." Or re-branding "Middlemarch" as--simply--"Dramatic."

"Sinister" should be called "Home Movies," or "The Writer."

Anyway, what is this film? It's a partial update of "The Shining." A writer, Ethan Hawke, moves his family to a new locale, because he wants to jumpstart his career. But Hawke withholds some information. The new house is actually the sight of a terrible crime: Five or six family members were once found hanging from a tree in the backyard. The sixth family member--a child, and possibly the murderer--has never been located.

Odder still: The killer (or someone else?) has left a snuff film in the attic. Several snuff films. There's the hanging scene, but also footage of a drowning, footage of a car bomb, footage of Jim Jones-esque drug abuse....

At this point, my husband looked at me, in wonder, and said, "I really can't believe we're watching this...."

Well, fair enough. But do you know who shares my fondness for "Sinister"? It's Roger Ebert. This is a rare horror movie with strong reviews. It's a horror movie that drew the attention of Ethan Hawke--a first--because, unlike previous scary scripts, this one actually offered Hawke a *character* to work with. Our hero--failing to disclose important info to his wife, hitting the sauce a bit too much, denying his own lust for fame--is so weak and so relatable. And the wife is Juliet Rylance! There are moments when the movie feels like "Before Midnight," because you have these two top-tier actors bringing a marriage to life, showing how two adults can both want *and fear* the chance to wound each other late at night.

Am I over-selling "Sinister"? Maybe. But I also want to point out that this movie included a debate about the ethics of true crime even before that became the very thing that everyone in America wants to talk about constantly. (The script's way of parodying true-crime titles...."Blood Diner," "Kentucky Blood," "Cold Denver Morning" .....Delightful!)

Also, I'm fond of the puns attached to the snuff films: A drowning is called "Pool Party." One bloody scene--where the walls turn red--is called "House Painting."

Finally, I love this movie's iconic scene: A child, approaching her insanely status-conscious father, holds up an axe, ready to kill. "Don't worry, Daddy," says the child. "I'll be sure that you *always* remain famous."

I haven't even talked about the snake and the scorpion. This is a weirdly funny and surprising horror story. Two thumbs up!
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