And before the Stevensons moved to Chatford, they lived in the Miller's former home. A child from each family disappeared following every murder. At one point, Ellison encounters a Rottweiler in the backyard.Įllison consults a local deputy and discovers that the filmed murders took place at different times and in different cities across the country dating back to 1966. Inside the film reels' canister lid, he finds a king snake and childlike drawings depicting the murders, with a strange figure called "Mr.
One night, Ellison investigates noises in the attic. Three members of the Miller family were murdered, while 13-year-old Christopher Miller disappeared. Ellison matches footage of a throat-slitting murder to news reports from St. Ellison notes the appearance of a mysterious symbol and a strange, ominous figure in the films. The films are footage of different families being murdered in various ways, each with a related but innocuous title, such as a mass drowning marked as "Pool Party '66." Each murder is performed by the unseen camera operator. He hopes to learn the fate of 10-year-old Stephanie Stevenson, who disappeared following the murders.Įllison finds a box in the attic that contains a scorpion, as well as a projector and reels of Super 8 footage, each labeled as home movies. He intends to write a book about the case, to regain the fame he lost after his bestselling book Kentucky Blood was followed by two less successful novels. Unbeknownst to his wife and kids, Ellison has moved them into the home where the Stevenson family was murdered by hanging. True crime writer Ellison Oswalt moves into a home in the fictional town of Chatford, Pennsylvania with his wife Tracy, their 12-year-old son, Trevor, and their 7-year-old daughter, Ashley. The film later premiered on Syfy on October 2020 as part of Syfy's 31 Days of Halloween. A sequel was released in 2015, with Ransone reprising his role. The film was a box office success, grossing $87.7 million against its budget of $3 million. Sinister received positive reviews, praising the acting, direction, music, cinematography, and atmosphere, but also criticism for its use of jump scares and other horror clichés. It was released in the United Kingdom on Octoand in the United States on October 12. The film premiered at the SXSW festival on March 10, 2012. The film was a co-production between the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. To add the authenticity of old home movies and snuff films, the Super 8 segments were shot on actual Super 8 cameras and film stock.
Principal photography on Sinister began in Autumn of 2011 in Long Island, NY with a production budget of $3 million. Sinister was inspired by a nightmare Cargill had after watching the 2002 film The Ring. Juliet Rylance, Fred Thompson, James Ransone, Clare Foley, and Michael Hall D'Addario appear in supporting roles. It stars Ethan Hawke as a struggling true-crime writer whose discovery of videos depicting grisly murders in his new house puts his family in danger. Sinister is a 2012 American supernatural horror film directed by Scott Derrickson and written by C.