A view to a kill

Sinister
DIRECTED BY: Scott
Derrickson
STARRING: Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, Vincent D’Onofrio
CERT: 16

October is a traditional dumping ground for bad horror, when the fellas in Hollywood adopt the age-old thinking of Hallowe’en mask manufacturers, whose general approach is that any ’auld thing will do so long as it looks like it might scare a sensitive child.
So it’s a nice surprise when an actual scary movie comes along. It’s even more surprising when it’s a ‘found footage’ film, a sub-genre that should have been put down by now out of mercy for the public. Though you could rightly say that Sinister really doesn’t belong in that particular mould. Because in this case we get to know the finder and we see what happens when the footage ends.
Ellison Oswalt (Hawke) is a true-crime writer who hasn’t had a successful book in years and is desperate for a hit. For his new story, he’s just moved his family into a new home – all the better to be near the crime scene. Only he’s gone one better and chosen to live in the actual house where a family was murdered, hanged from a tree in the yard. He keeps this little detail to himself. His wife Tracy (Rylance) is lovingly supportive but there’s probably a limit even for her.
In the attic, Ellison finds a box of 8mm films and a projector and decides to have a look. The first reel is a home movie of the murdered family, having a bit of fun outside. All very dull, until they end up dead and Ellison realises their killer filmed the murders. Not only that but the other movies in the box depict a series of brutal killings, going back decades. All of a sudden, this book is shaping up to be a belter.
But there’s something about this certain strange symbol that appears in these films. Ellison consults a professional (D’Onofrio) and learns this is associated with an ancient entity named Bagul, who feeds on the souls of children.
Of course, soon Bagul is turning up all over the place. Which can be a tad unnerving, though it might be somewhat more frightening if he didn’t look so much like Michael Jackson and if it wasn’t for the fact that Bagul is more affectionately known as Mr Boogie. It’s hard to be really spooked by a demon who might at any moment start dancing.
Director Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) manages to make his movie scary all the same ­ partly with a string of decent frights but mostly by crafting an atmosphere of unease, a slow-burning sense of dread, the kind of old school stuff that most modern horror directors have abandoned.
The Shining is an obvious influence here, though it’s one that shows up Derrickson’s big weakness. Unlike Kubrick, he has a heavy hand at the supernatural end of things and ultimately lets the paranormal element overshadow the real story. Mr Boogie may become a horror icon with his own
franchise but Sinister would have been a better film if Derrickson had handled him better.
For his part, Ethan Hawke does a solid job in the lead role, though for a long stretch he shares top billing with the cardigan from hell. Juliet Rylance does well with the fairly thankless task of being nice, while Clare Foley and Michael Hall D’Addario are fine as the kids.
The lads in the sound department deserve a nod for some excellent work, and Christopher Young’s score is suitably unsettling.
Overall it’s worth a look, a good notch above most of what passes for fright material at this time of year.

Taken 2
DIRECTED BY: Olivier Megaton
STARRING: Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace
CERT: 12A

Taken was a surprise hit a few years back and it deserved its success. It was a lot of fun watching Liam Neeson tearing around Europe busting skulls and even those of us who are severely allergic to sequels said we wouldn’t mind seeing more of that. And here we are.
Except, well, there’s not a lot of skull-busting going on. Or there is but we don’t really see it. Because the corporate dead hand has decreed that Taken 2 be made available to younger viewers and so all of the movie’s teeth have been removed.
It’s Taken, without all the good stuff. Or Taken, with added family time and unintentional comedy. Not quite what we were waiting for.
This time around, super killing machine Bryan Mills (Neeson) is immediately up to his neck in peril, teaching his daughter Kim (Grace) how to drive. He’s throwing fond eyes at ex-wife Lenore (Janssen) too, even more so now that her new man turned out to be a tosser.
Then it’s off to Istanbul, where Liverpool fan Liam weeps with the joy of fond memories. After a bodyguard job for a local sheik, the ladies join him for a bit of a holiday. That turns out to be a bad move, on account of Dad’s last Euro adventure, which resulted in a large funeral in nearby Albania.
Murad Krasniqui (Rade Sherbedgia) wants vengeance for the son he lost in the carnage and he wastes no time getting Bryan and the wife tied up with hoods on their heads.
Young Kim avoids the kidnapping and following her father’s instructions (he has a secret mobile phone handy), she embarks on the family rescue. Her chief weapons are a map, a shoelace, hand grenades and a crash course in driving. Macgyver would have been proud.
There’s the odd enjoyable moment here but mostly this is disappointing stuff, ridiculously silly at times. It’s still fun to watch Mr Neeson do his thing but his character is so amazingly skilled now, he’s become a bit of a parody.
Going by a recent talk show interview, he doesn’t seem keen on another instalment. And that would be fine by me.