Maria Olsen sent a screener of this feature to me. I just had to watch and review because I’m such a big fan of hers.
Something Sinister is written and directed by Christopher Dye, which is the perfect name for a horror creator! Cast members within this feature consist of Rachel Appelbaum, Jeremy Gladen (The Theatre Bizarre), Maria Olsen (Paranormal Activity 3, The Bunnyman Massacre), and Johnny Francis Wolf.
“In an old secluded home, a young girl named Amelia finds herself at the mercy of her oppressive and abusive Aunt Helen. Slowly Amelia starts to lose her grasp on reality and falls into a vortex of madness and the supernatural, soon believing she’s being stalked by an evil presence. Is there something sinister haunting her from beyond the grave?”
Something Sinister is different from the majority of the horror films I review because it’s very artsy. By this I mean, it’s not your typical horror film that relies on shock value and grotesque kill scenes to cause a stir. Instead, this movie relies on a grainy, gritty, artistic approach to telling a good ghost story. It’s very reminiscent, at least to me, to movies dealing with ghost stories that would have been produced in the 50s and 60s. All the elements are there, they’re just not hitting you over the head and trying to freak you out. I don’t think Something Sinister was intended to be scary at all, actually, more-so it’s trying to tell the disturbing story of one girl in a crappy situation. And, hey, can’t we all enjoy a movie about unseen, paranormal encounters that isn’t found footage?
Something Sinister, on-top of being artsy, is also a very classy movie. From the style of the house, to the style of production – it’s all very classy. Even the closing and the house furnishings seem to be outdated, but from a very classy time period. This lends itself to the acting, too. In modern day cinema, I think most actors are too busy trying to exude exaggerated amounts of emotion and end up losing sight of the character they’re supposed to be playing. The actors – specifically Appelbaum and Olsen – are great in their portrayals. Appelbaum is sweet and shy without being a completely useless doormat. Olsen is mean and too strict without coming off like a Nazi death camp officer. Very good performances from the two ladies, and both Gladen and Wolf did a good job, too.
I can’t rave about the guys’ performances because I didn’t understand the characters. I didn’t understand a lot about the movie, actually. And this is my biggest problem with Something Sinister. I didn’t understand what the Hell was going on after the first twenty minutes. The movie is artistic, classy, and features some great performances – but the script is just so lacking to me. It’s dreadfully slow at certain points and none of the reveal scenes make me go, “Oooooooh, ok. I get it.” At my end of my viewing I kind of just sat at my desk and thought, “Hm.” Maybe it was because of the slow pace and the often confusing progression that I didn’t get Something Sinister. It had no layer of oomph to it. Nothing to hold my attention. Kind of like the sorority girl you meet at a party – looks beautiful, but the lights aren’t on upstairs, if you know what I mean.
It’s for these reasons that I have to give Something Sinister a 5.5 out of 10. I would have rated it a few pegs higher had the script been a little more cohesive. Although, maybe I’ll give it another watch and see if my opinion holds up.
