Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Halloween Horror Movie Marathon: Films 18 & 19

So you say you don't want to sit around the house watching movies this Halloween. Rather, you'd like to get out with some friends and catch something in the theater before heading off to a party or whatever. Great idea! And there are at least a couple of good options out there for you this year.



I've seen The Possession referred to by more than one oh-so-clever reviewer as The Jewish Exorcist. You see, the film is about a young girl who becomes possessed, the demon, or dybbuk, which does the possessing is based on Jewish mythology, and the film also features an exorcism, but performed by a Rabbi instead of a priest. 

See! Just the same as The Exorcist, but Jewish. 

Ok, seriously, it is without a doubt true that this film follows a lot of the same beats as William Friedkin's classic film. But in fairness, most possession/exorcism themed films do. If that's the type film you're making, it's almost impossible not to reflect that seminal film is some respect. Still, what The Possession does have going for it that so many The Exorcist knockoffs do not is a very strong cast, an excellent director and enough of it's own ideas to make it a worthwhile edition to the possession sub-genre.


That said, my top "in theater" recommendation for Halloween is ...


What a wicked little film Sinister is. I'm not going to lie to you; I'm a jaded, longtime horror movie fan so it's not easy to get under my skin, but this thing creeped me out big time.

Ethan Hawke plays Ellison Oswalt, a writer of true-crime books. Ellison had great success with his first book, but his last two didn't work out very well. We pick up the story as he is moving, with his wife and two children, into a new home. Unbeknownst to the rest of the family, the new house daddy has picked out for them also happens to be the scene of the crime that his new book is centered around. Yeah, moving into a murder house; always a good idea in horror movies. 

Anyway, while storing some boxes in the the attic, Ellison comes across an old box labeled "Home Movies" that appears to have been left behind by the previous owners (aka, the family that was murdered there). Inside the box he finds an 8mm film projector and several cans of film. Upon playing the first film reel he finds not home movies, but a film of the actual murder. And each subsequent reel reveals the murder of a different family, all in different homes and different time periods dating back to the 60's. Ellison thinks he's really onto something big with this discovery. Unfortunately for him, he is.

For a fairly low-budget affair, Sinister gets more right than most Hollywood films with ten times the budget. Firstly, the script is just so well written. The dialogue, the interactions of the family, how Ellison reacts to finding the films, it all feels authentic. There's none of the typical, horror movie "why the hell would you do that!" type stuff going on. Next, the acting all around is excellent. Hawke is of course a well-known, Hollywood personality, and we know he can deliver, but I think we've also all seen a horror film before where a respected actor sleepwalks through his/her role for a paycheck. Not the case here. The film really rests on Hawke's shoulders and he comes through, big time. Besides him, with the exception of the small role of sheriff played by Fred Dalton Thompson I didn't recognize any of the other cast members, but they were all fantastic. Just solid work all around. Finally, the film is smartly directed by Scott Derrickson, whose The Exorcism of Emily Rose I liked, but whose remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still I did not. Here, even though this is a much smaller film, I think he delivers his best work to date.

I suspect there is going to be some division on this one (currently Sinister has a 61% rating on Rotten Tomatoes). Some people aren't going to like that so much of the action is Ellison watching movies, investigating on his laptop and creeping around his house after hearing strange noises. This isn't a big, bang, splashy horror movie. But it's a damned creepy one, and well worth checking out. 

I kind of wanted to talk about the ending, but I don't want to be "that guy." So if you do go see it, let me know and we'll discuss later in the comments.


Footnote:  Also in theaters right now is Paranormal Activity 4: Hyperactivity. But, you know, it's the 4th one. I mean, do what you want, go check it out if you really love that series, but personally I can wait for the DVD on that one. 

(Ok, I confess, Hyperactivity is not actually the subtitle of Paranormal Activity 4.  But come one, it so should have been.)

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