Supernatural Horror | 2015 | 🍿

"Do you believe in evil?" "You mean, do I believe in the supernatural? Ghosts and demons and the Devil himself? What do you want me to say? That you should carry a cross, and holy water, and shout 'the power of Christ compels you'?" "Will that work?" "No. Do I believe the things you're talking about exist? Yes. And I believe they exist to lure men like you into them."

Sinister 2 is a successful film. The biggest flaw is that it is in the shadow of Sinister.

Sinister 2 has the same strengths and weaknesses that Black Christmas 2006 does—it is a good film with a worse tone, exaggerated gore, and some character problems that still succeeds at being fun to watch if you can stop comparing it to the original.

Here are the changes I don’t like: the snuff videos veer into the realm of hyperbolic torture porn (for once I think this word is correct, given for example the scene with the rats and other similarly exaggerated deaths. Sinister was never about portraying much human suffering: the kills were quick and darkly inventive but they were not protracted or about exaggerated suffering. This is not true here, and it mars the tone for me, because it’s no longer sinister in tone—it’s just gross and a bit boring to see this stuff recycled here.

Bughuul now struts about like a demonic edgelord in what is probably a black trench coat. His main actions are materializing rats and occasionally popping up and then standing around doing nothing of worth. I can cope with the torture if I have to, but this change renders him too goofy to be frightening except for when he is a jump scare or looking through the glass of a television or similar. He now startles, but he can’t truly frighten.

Other than the degrading of Bughuul, who now presides like an evil Peter Pan over a cadre of lost children who love watching snuff films, and the problems with tone and violence, this is a good time. It also succeeds at portraying domestic abuse in a real world setting in parallel with the supernatural abuse. While this B plot can be distracting in other circumstances, here it becomes the actual horror and the biggest threat to the family. The demon is just a supernatural catalyst for a domestic tale that has teeth.

There are likeable characters, the jump scares land, it does a good job at developing tension, and it manages a fun conclusion. There is some diminution of fear from the feeling that this is a film that the protagonists are built to survive, but it is still an enjoyable close to the duology.

Give this a chance, don’t expect it to be what it’s not able to be, and I think you’ll like this. Medium recommendation.

👻 Supernatural Horror | 2016
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💎 Slightly Hidden Horror Gems I 2012
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Looking for something else?

The Conjuring 2 | Naga | Entrance | Sinister I The Black Cat | Sacrifice | Black Christmas I Last Night in Soho| The Holdovers| The Autopsy of Jane Doe | Lux Æterna | Demonia | The Descent | Annihilation | Hereditary | Climax | Christmas Bloody Christmas | The Stylist