Sinister

Ellison Oswalt is a once-successful true crime author stuck in a long slump, desperate for a comeback. While clearing out a box of film reels from a house where a family was found dead, he uncovers disturbing home movies that seem to record murders. Convinced uncovering the truth will revive his career, he moves his wife and young children into that same house to investigate and document everything. The footage and other clues soon point to something unnatural tied to the images, and strange occurrences escalate around the family. As Ellison pushes deeper, his need for answers pulls him toward dangerous obsessions and threatens the safety of everyone who trusts him, while the films hint at forces beyond normal explanation.

Directed by Scott Derrickson from a script by C. Robert Cargill, Sinister was released in 2012. The cast includes Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, Vincent D'Onofrio and James Ransone, blending traditional horror with found-footage elements and unsettling imagery throughout its runtime.

Sinister performed strongly at the box office, earning back many times its modest production costs worldwide, which helped secure a sequel and bolstered Scott Derrickson's profile as a commercial horror director and proved there was appetite for eerie, slow-burn horror.

The film's use of sinister home movies and the shadowy figure at their center left an imprint on horror visuals, inspiring imitators. Its jump scares and creeping dread entered genre conversations, and the movie's imagery, especially the reels, became a shorthand for found-footage horror in subsequent films and discussion.

Critics offered mixed to positive reviews, reflected in its 6.87/10 user vote average on some platforms, praising mood and Hawke's performance while noting familiar genre beats. The story centers on obsession, the cost of pursuing truth, fractured family dynamics and how images can carry dangerous, corrupting influence and lingering dread.