In the original Sinister, crime writer Ellison Oswalt moves his family to a new home so he can work on his latest project. He’s writing a book on a terrible crime and unbeknownst to the rest of his family they’re living on the most recent murder site. He discovers the killings are ritualistic and all clues lead to sightings of an ancient deity called Bughuul (or Bughul, Mr.Boogie). Ellison discovers a box of 8mm films in the loft, each movie depicts a different family murder and in each case one of the children is revealed as the killer before going missing. As Ellison uncovers the terrifying facts about Bughuul, he removes his family to their old house but these sets off the final motion in Bughuul’s chain of events leading Ellison and his family to be murdered by their youngest daughter with a very sharp axe.
Sinister 2 is a new story; the only returning character is Deputy So and So (James Ransone). He had a small role as a cop eager to help out Ellison with the case so he could be included in the book he was writing. Now he’s a private detective having been fired from the Police Force in the aftermath of the Oswalt family murders.
The now Ex-Deputy is now travelling to the site of every Bughuul murder and burning the crime scenes to the ground so no one can live there and thus break the centuries old cycle. On arrival at the site of a Church and its adjacent home the he finds a family living there. Courtney (Shannyn Sossamon) and her twin sons Dylan and Zach (Robert Daniel and Dartanian Sloan) are on the run from her abusive husband and are lying low to avoid the private detective he has sent after them.
Sinister 2 attempts something different this time around as we now witness the Baghuul haunting from the perspectives of the children he is trying to corrupt. The target seems to be Dylan the more sensitive of the two. He’s visited nightly by Milo (the excellent Lucas Jade Zumann) and his ghostly gang who offer to stop his bad dreams. All he has to do in return is watch their violent 8mm home movies. Like the first film these are great, they’re violent but pretty silly and ridiculous now we know a child has set it up. My favourite was the one with the rats. I won’t spoil the surprise but it’s gross and funny in a gallows-humour sort of way
Sinister 2 like most sequels, suffers from diminishing returns. Despite the new angle on the story there’s very little that feels fresh. It has decent pace and rattles along well enough it’s just not particularly scary. Bughuul looks great from a distance or hidden in shadow but up close he’s pretty hokey and he pops up a lot this time. The ghostly children are seen way too much to be sinister; they also fade in and out which is just so cheesy. Both Sossamon and Ransone are very likeable. They have a slightly awkward romantic sub-plot but it’s pretty much forgotten and heavily handed by the script.
I found Sinister 2 perfectly watchable but it is considerably less scary than the original and most of the good bits are in the trailer. The jump scares are plentiful and often ruin any suspense or creepy imagery. Save it for a VOD rental or Netflix, there are worse ways to spend a dark evening.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Watchable but workman-like sequel with some fun gory moments and jump scares galore
