Sinister--my take on the movie (with spoilers)

Research is an integral part of writing. As writers, it is our job to go in depth of the subject we are writing about; be it fiction or non-fiction.

But should there me a limit to how much we are ready to pursue the knowledge of our subject? 

Mark Twain said that first we must get our facts right and then distort them as much as we please. The question is: how much should we delve before we have gained satisfactory knowledge to work on a story.

Sinister, shows us just how risky doing research for a book can be.

Ellison Oswalt (played by Ethan Hawke) is looking for a new story that would sky rocket him back to success. As a writer of real crime stories, doing research for him means getting inside the story by living in the place where the crimes took place.

His passion is what puts his family at risk as unknown to his family, Ellison has moved into the house where a family was hung from a tree that still stands. There is however a mystery attached to it: the youngest member of the family- a girl- disappeared on the night of the murders.

Ellison is warned by the police to stay away from the story he thinks will propel his book as the next bestseller, but his arrogance makes him ignore to heed all warnings. 

Then when Ellison finds a box of snuff films in the attic, he feels he's on the right track and watches all the tapes. It is then the true horror is unleashed and the mystery of the missing girl is solved.

Sinister was scary and I loved how the character with the least screen time turned out to be the one who was going to surprise everyone. 

Is the movie disturbing? Yes, very! 

It's simply uncomfortable to watch so much violence be unleashed on screen and though the movie shies away from unnecessary bloodshed, the use of children as tools of crime was disturbing. 

Horror movies are known to use children and innocence as props to showcase horror. It is scary to think that something that is seemingly harmless could be so dangerous. Horror movies prey on our fears and being shocked to think that such innocence could be hiding something so violent, is an unnerving thought.

So yes, Sinister does follow the same path that shocks us and perhaps that is forgivable in this movie only because it manages to give you the creeps without being too gory.

A definite scary watch for Halloween!