Sinister 2 (2015)

Sinister 2 (stylized in marketing as Sinister II) is a 2015 supernatural horror film directed by Ciarán Foy, and written by Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill. A sequel to Sinister (2012), it stars James Ransone, reprising his role from the original film, and Shannyn Sossamon. The film follows a former deputy as he attempts to put an end to a malevolent deity's curse after an encounter with a family that fell victim to it, while a boy is tormented by the victims who lived in the house where he, his twin brother, and mother now reside. Unlike the first film, which utilized 8 mm film in the story's home movies and snuff films, Sinister 2 utilized 16 mm film, vinyl records, and ham radio broadcasts in the film's storyline.

Sinister 2 was released on August 21, 2015. The film received negative reviews from critics, with criticism for its jump scares, horror clichés and story, while Ransone's performance received some praise. It grossed over $54 million against its reported budget of $10 million.

Plot

The film opens with a home movie depicting a family of three being bound and hung up like scarecrows with sacks over their heads in a cornfield and burned alive three years after the Oswalt family was murdered. It is revealed to be the nightmare of 9-year-old Dylan Collins, who is squatting in a farmhouse next to a deconsecrated church in rural Illinois, with his twin brother Zach and their mother Courtney, who are all running from Clint, Courtney's abusive husband and Zach and Dylan's father. Dylan is visited nightly by a group of ghostly children who coerce him to watch "home movies" of their own families being murdered in various ways.

Former sheriff's deputy "So-and-So", now a private investigator, is researching the murders connected to the ancient deity Bughuul (including the ones shown to Dylan) and burning down the homes where each murder took place before another family can move into them, including the house where the Oswalt family massacre took place. He arrives at the farmhouse, but finds the family living there, telling Courtney he is there to investigate the church where a murder took place.

Clint shows up at the farmhouse to take the boys, but leaves after the Deputy says he needs a court order. Courtney wants to leave but the Deputy convinces her not to, knowing that leaving would continue the murders connected to Bughuul. Courtney invites him to stay overnight, and the two develop a budding romance.

The Deputy meets with Prof. Stromberg, who has come into possession of a ham radio that belonged to Prof. Jonas, who has mysteriously disappeared, revealing that the radio first belonged to a Norwegian family from 1973. He plays a recording of a young girl yelling to her mother before killing her family and playing the piano. Prof. Stromberg reveals that Bughuul was believed to be reachable by ritual/sacrifice and to have been feeding on the corruption of innocents, with three common traits present: a murdered family, missing children, and an iconological totem/offering in the form of art as an "aesthetic observance of violence", in order to summon Bughuul. After the radio suddenly activates, the Deputy orders Stromberg to destroy it.

Zach becomes jealous of the ghost children's attention to Dylan and begins to act violently towards his brother. The children show Dylan the video of the church murders, depicting a family being nailed to the floor by their hands and feet and have rats burrow through their abdomens, leaving them to bleed out (Sunday Service). After Dylan refuses to watch further, the children turn their attention to Zach and abandon Dylan, saying he is not their real target.

Clint arrives with the court order and Courtney goes with him to protect her sons. The Deputy drives to Clint's home to warn them about the danger, but Clint beats him up and threatens the Deputy to leave. The next day, Zach films his family in an outdoor hangout and spikes their drinks with a mysterious drug. That night, Dylan contacts the Deputy for help as he and his parents lose consciousness.

Courtney, Dylan, and Clint are drugged and hung on scarecrow posts with sacks over their heads in the cornfield by Clint's house in the same way as Dylan’s nightmare from the opening scene. A possessed Zach douses his family in three separate trails of gasoline, lights Clint on fire, and films his death. Just as Zach is about to light Dylan on fire, the Deputy arrives at the Collins' residence, hitting Zach with his car. He frees Courtney and Dylan as they flee into the cornfield. However, Zach survives and chases after them, cutting off the Deputy's fingers with a sickle.

Inside the home, the ghost children try to help Zach find them. Just as Zach is about to kill Courtney and Dylan, the Deputy manages to destroy the camera, breaking the cycle. Zach is admonished by the ghost children for failing. Bughuul appears and as punishment Zach's body decomposes rapidly, with a cloth projection screen bursting into flames, causing Bughuul and his followers to seemingly become wiped. The family flees as the house crumbles around them.

Later, while collecting his things to leave with Courtney and Dylan, the Deputy finds the ham radio in his motel room. The ghost children begin speaking to him through it before Bughuul suddenly appears.

Cast

Production

Development

A sequel to Sinister (2012) was announced to be in the works in March 2013, with writers Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill returning, but the former not directing as he did on the first film.

In April 2014, it was announced that Ciarán Foy would direct the film, and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Charles Layton, Xavier Marchand, and Patrice Théroux would executive produce the sequel with Entertainment One.

Filming

Principal photography began on August 19, 2014, in Chicago. It was shot for six weeks in locations including St. Anne and outside the village of Grant Park.

Post-production

On May 20, 2015, Focus Features relaunched their Gramercy Pictures label for action, horror, and science-fiction films. Sinister 2 was one of Gramercy's new releases.

Release

Sinister 2 released theatrically in the United States on August 21, 2015, and was distributed by Focus Features.

Home media

Sinister 2 was released on DVD and Blu-ray on January 12, 2016.

Reception

Box office

The movie grossed $27,740,955 domestically and $26,363,270 internationally for a total of $53,329,150.

It was a lower gross than its predecessor, which finished its theatrical run with $82,515,113, though still well above its reported $10 million production budget.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 14%, based on 91 reviews with an average rating of 4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Sinister 2 has a few ingredients that will be familiar to fans of the original; unfortunately, in this slapdash second installment, none of them are scary anymore." Metacritic gives the film a score of 32 out of 100, based on reviews from 17 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.

IGN awarded it a score of 1 out of 10, rating it "unbearable". The site says, "Sinister 2 is an abysmal follow-up to its predecessor. At least that film knew that less is more. And less is scarier." MoviePilot also awarded the film 1 out of 10, calling it "one of the worst horror films of the last few years."

Future

Potential crossover

Prior to the release of Insidious: The Last Key, Jason Blum stated that a crossover film between Sinister and the Insidious series had previously been in development, and that he personally believed it had potential for re-entering it, stating that "we're going to cross our worlds at some point".

Potential sequel

In October 2023, Scott Derrickson stated that he has interest in returning to the Sinister franchise. While the filmmaker said he believed that Sinister 2 had not taken the right approach, he stated that he believes there are various ways that a sequel could be developed moving forward.

References

External links

Sinister 2 at IMDb

Sinister 2 at Box Office Mojo

Sinister 2 at Rotten Tomatoes