Sinister (**1/2)

A decent start to this one from Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose). The familiar element: a family moving into an old house, where a writer (Ethan Hawke) hopes to be able to finish his latest true crime novel. His wife (Juliet Rylance) is supportive in one scene and threatens to leave him in the next. But it’s the unfamiliar element, a batch of home movies with murders on them, that makes him a little crazy. (Which sorts of fits the movie into the batch of recent horror films involving found footage, camcorders, and/or otherwise crude-looking visuals.) And the way he keeps hearing noises, noises his wife and young children never seem to hear.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I have trouble suspending my disbelief when it comes to horror movies. To my mind, if your movie involves the supernatural, keep the supernatural elements to a minimum. So, where I lost interest was where the symbols expert (Vincent D’Onofrio) came on to explain some ancient mythology I never heard of and what it means. To me this is just lazy screenwriting because it lets you explain anything. (I think one reason people like vampire and zombie films is because there are known rules for these beings.) I won’t give away the twist, but the explanation for it pretty much amounts to, well, because it’s pretty creepy.

IMDb link

viewed 10/9/12 7:30 [PFS screening] at Ritz East and reviewed 10/10–12/12

 

Monster House (***1/2)

This funny, quirky Halloween-themed cartoon has characters that are more three-dimensional than most live-action movies.

Part coming-of-age drama, part comedy-mystery, and part (mild) horror movie, this is the tale of a trio of tweens who discover a sinister secret about the place across the street. There are a number of time-honored elements to the story. A mean guy (voiced by Steve Buscemi) who doesn’t want anyone on his lawn. Strange happening that only the kids notice, so the adults don’t believe them. The main characters are sharply drawn, literally and figuratively. The script is quirky enough to have the two boys do things like pee in a jar to avoid having to stray from their telescope they’re using to spy. Even though they compete for the attention of the girl, they sometimes forget to act like grownups around her. They disagree about whether they’re too old to celebrate Halloween, but have to worry that the younger kids won’t make it to November alive. This is the year’s best animated feature so far.

IMDb link