Sinister 2

Sinister 2

Starring James Ransone, Shannyn Sossamon, Robert Daniel Sloan, Dartanian Sloan

Directed by Ciaran Foy

The Story:
After the events of the first film, Deputy (James Ransone) is investigating other occurrences of the evil demonic spirit known as Bughuul, who manipulates young children to kill their families, film them, and take them away. 

His recent investigation leads him to a seemingly abandoned farmhouse with a church in the backyard, but he finds that it's inhabited by Courtney (Shannyn Sossamon) and her young sons Dylan (Robert Daniel Sloan) and Zach (Dartanian Sloan).  They're on the run from Courtney's abusive husband, who has strong connections with law enforcement.

As Deputy investigates the premises, Dylan is haunted by nightmares and the spirits of children who make him watch their snuff films, because it pleases Bughuul and makes him stronger.  They want Dylan to make his own movie, but Dylan is reluctant to do it, but that would make Bughuul very angry.

The Synopsis:
The first "Sinister" was a very well-done horror movie that had mystery, suspense, and downright terrifying images.  It relied somewhat on jump scares, but not entirely.  It had a great storyline, a shocking ending, and decent acting.

Then there came "Sinister 2."  As it is with most horror sequels, they elaborate on the evil entity's backstory, change motives and means, and often gives a lesser story with worse acting.  To those ends, "Sinister 2" managed to achieve their goals.  Not only was it dull, but it was unoriginal, uninspired and tried to force two conflicting stories down the throats of the viewers.

Director Ciaran Foy stated this was more a homage to "Children of the Corn," and he really didn't have to say anything for it to be painfully obvious.  From the cornfield outside the house, to the ghost kid leader who wore a suit and tie reminiscent of Isaac, to pretty much everything else in the film.  As it is with a copycat, it's hardly the original.  "Sinister 2" fails here double time, both as a sequel and rip-off.

While Bughuul was an all-encompassing evil in the original, here he is refined to the background, dutifully appearing for every jump scene imaginable, but otherwise content with staying completely off-screen.  Now the children are the leads, and far be it for me to knock on child actors, but these were some of the worst.  Especially with the Sloan brothers, who served as complete opposites - Dylan the nice, meek, quiet one and Zach the bully, mean-spirited one.  We get it, they're two ends of the same coin.  Been there, done that.

The one thing the film got almost right was the true horror Courtney and her children faced at the hands of an abusive husband/father who controlled the law enforcement.  If the movie just centered on their trials and trying to escape him, it would've been a much better (albeit completely different) film entirely.  Instead, this subplot is used to merely move the movie forward, and to try to give it a little twist that even the least seasoned horror vet could see coming a mile away.

Finally there's Deputy - who, after two films, still doesn't have an actual name - who was woefully acted by James Ransone.  You could tell he had no clue what he was doing or what kind of film he was appearing in, as most of his dialogue (how little there was) was met with sarcastic humor and indifference rather than actual fear.  Plus he spent a lot of time giving quizzical looks like he was trying to get inspiration from the director on what his role should be.  He reminded me of another Deputy - Deputy Dewey from "Scream."  Both had equal amounts of brain activity.

The best part of the film was seeing the snuff films of the other children, which were downright terrifying, disturbing and unrelenting.  Taking seemingly innocent titles like "Fishing Trip," "Christmas Morning" and "Dentist Appointment" and making them extremely graphic and unnerving was the best part - and we won't even get into what happened during "Sunday Service."

The Summary:
"Sinister 2" falls into the trap most horror sequels fall into - they try to shed light on the main villain, give a less than stellar story, and fills it with mediocre acting that makes it instantly forgettable.

The Score: C+