We gathered all the Blumhouse titles to definitively rank them for ourselves, but the horror fans have spoken, and although we’re convinced that Get Out is the studio’s greatest triumph, there’s another contender tossed into the fray to compete for ‘scariest’ Blumhouse production.
We’d argue that Get Out isn’t necessarily scary, but rather carries a strong sociopolitical message, so there must be another Blumhouse vessel to bring home the gold, and that would be Scott Derrickson’s Sinister. Although there are indeed more gripping efforts from Blumhouse, Sinister remains the absolute cream of the crop as far as inducing fear in an audience and building the tension. There’s never been another horror quite like it, despite its premise being fairly simple.
Sinister follows Ellison (Ethan Hawke), a down-and-out crime novelist who moves his family into a house that was once the setting for some gruesome murders. When he begins gathering research to write his next book, Ellison discovers some eerie found-footage that connects a string of murders to an ominous entity known to the perpetrators of these crimes as “Mr. Boogie” (Bughuul). Juliet Rylance, Fred Thompson, James Ransone, Clare Foley, and Michael Hall D’Addario star in supporting roles alongside Hawke.
The r/horror subreddit wasted no time in weighing in once u/independent_ade boldly suggested that Sinister was Blumhouse’s “scariest” brainchild yet. They mentioning loving the storytelling, “the mixture of true crime and supernatural,” as well as the soundtrack, which they described as “so f*cking scary.” And it would seem that fellow Redditors are in unanimous agreement; horror aficionados flocked to the comments in full admiration of Sinister‘s haunting reputation, which still holds up more than 10 years later. Some recurrent points were made, such as praise for Ethan Hawke’s performance, appreciation for the well-constructed Super 8 footage (which was shot on an actual Super 8 camera), and an abundance of recognition for Sinister‘s soundtrack, to which it owes all the scares it manages to pull off.
Another Redditor mentioned that the movie “disturbs” them on “levels [they] can’t explain.” They go on to explain that Sinister doesn’t necessarily scare them per se, but rather they’re left deeply disturbed and uncomfortable by it. From there, u/CorgiKnits proceeds to compare Sinister to the likes of Friday the 13th, the former feeling all too real and the latter struggling to produce the same effect because it’s unrealistic and exaggerated. Perhaps the most alarming part of Sinister is that all the Super 8 video murders could — and have been — easily replicated by actual serial killers, which suddenly adds a new depth to the significance of their creativity and brutality.
Another user summarizes our thoughts perfectly; the scenes themselves wouldn’t have such an impact if it weren’t for the music, which amps up the fear factor considerably. Full credit to composer Christopher Young, who worked on Sinister‘s score. If it weren’t for him, Sinister might not have generated the same kind of impact as it did.
Originally, we ranked Sinister as Blumhouse’s sixth best movie overall, but after the valid and convincing arguments made, perhaps we should consider shifting it up a few places.