Rating: D-
Sinister 2 opened this weekend in an attempt to continue the storyline the first film fantastically established. The original Sinister was a chilling, intense, and impactful horror movie. It had great acting and an original story to tell. Going into this, I hoped that great story would expand and this universe would grow. Yet, Sinister 2 didn't do such. Instead of a great follow up, we got a poorly thought out, incoherent sequel. If anything, this film hindered people from seeing where this franchise goes.
At no point was I genuinely scared during my viewing of Sinister 2. They relied heavily on false jump scares and pure shock factor to convey fear. Yet, since it's a sequel, the shock value presented was something the audience was already accustomed to. Realizing this, the people who created this film used the mysterious Bughuul for a series of random jump scares. For some reason, they repeatedly showed this character with little to no explanation. He basically would just show up to scare the audience. The issue with that is there was nothing to fear about him. Yes, he looked scary. But we had no reasoning to why he was there and what his end game was. Bughuul came off as a stalker type ghoul and not as a legitimate source of horror. Sinister 2 really lost the intensity and suspense the original brought.
The writing was also an issue. The same writers wrote Sinister. They knew the product and the story better than anyone. Yet, for some reason C. Robert Cargill and Scott Derrickson didn't expand this story. You could see this sequel without seeing the original and still follow perfectly. Sinister 2 didn't feel like a continuation of the legend of Bughuul. It felt like a different storyline. You learned nothing new in this film and that really hindered Bughuul. Yes, you do learn that Bughuul has been around for some time. Yet, that's really it. You barely know anything about the character. Some may say knowing nothing is more scary, yet if you aren't going to expand upon things, why make a sequel? Why waste everybody's time?
The poor story detracted this film in multiple ways. I didn't enjoy seeing the perspective of the kids. The terrifying part of Sinister was the element of surprise that came when you realize it was the kids who were committing terrible acts. Here, you know what's going on and you see the process of how the kid becomes a murderer. Yet, that offered nothing really new. And in the last twenty minutes, they try to develop a twist to make this original and something different. Yet, it fell really flat and just added to how bad the story was. Instead of continuing a saga, Sinister 2 felt like its own entity.
The acting here was iffy. James Ransone returning was the saving grace of Sinister 2. I enjoy his character a lot and wouldn't mind seeing him in future installments. Shannyn Sossamon was also decent. Yet, the kids were terrible. The child actors brought on to play the ghosts were just bad. They all were really cheesy. The kids really hurt this movie in the long run. Having the story so much focused on them and the ghost children really didn't do much in terms of horror. Especially because none of them delivered decent performances.
If you enjoyed Sinister, I can't say you'll like this follow up. It feels like a different movie franchise.
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