''Sinister 2'' (stylized in marketing as ''Sinister II'') is a 2015
supernatural horror film directed by
Ciarán Foy, and written by
Scott Derrickson and
C. Robert Cargill. A
sequel
A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
to ''
Sinister'' (2012), it stars
James Ransone, reprising his role from the original film, and
Shannyn Sossamon. The film follows a former deputy as he attempts to put an end to a malevolent deity's curse after an encounter with a family that fell victim to it, while a boy is tormented by the victims who lived in the house where he, his twin brother, and mother now reside. Unlike the first film, which utilized
8 mm film in the story's
home movies and
snuff films, ''Sinister 2'' utilized
16 mm film
16 mm film is a historically popular and economical Film gauge, gauge of Photographic film, film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm film, 8 mm and 35mm movie film, 35 mm. It ...
,
vinyl records, and
ham radio broadcasts in the film's storyline.
''Sinister 2'' was a co-production of
Alliance Films,
IM Global,
Blumhouse Productions, Steady Aim Productions, Tank Caterpillar, Inc., and Automatik Entertainment, and released on August 21, 2015, by
Focus Features through their
Gramercy Pictures banner in the United States, and Entertainment One in Canada and the United Kingdom. The film received negative reviews from critics, with criticism for its
jump scares, horror clichés and story, while Ransone's performance received some praise. It grossed over $54 million against its reported budget of $10 million.
Plot
The film opens with a home movie depicting a family of three being bound and hung up like
scarecrows with sacks over their heads in a cornfield and burned alive. It is revealed to be the nightmare of 9-year-old Dylan Collins, who is
squatting in a rural farmhouse next to a
deconsecrated church, with his twin brother Zach and their mother Courtney, who are all running from Clint, Courtney's abusive husband and Zach and Dylan's father. Dylan is visited nightly by a group of ghostly children who coerce him to watch "
home movies" of families being murdered in various ways, including being strung upside down over a lake and decapitated by alligators (''Fishing Trip)'', bound and gagged, and fatally eletrocuted in a flooded kitchen (''Kitchen Remodel''), and tied up with holiday lights and buried alive in the snow on Christmas Day (''Christmas Morning).''
Former sheriff's deputy "So-and-So", now a
private investigator, is researching the murders connected to the malevolent deity Bughuul and burning down the homes where each murder took place before another family can move into them, including the house where the
Oswalt family massacre took place. He arrives at the farmhouse, but finds the family living there, telling Courtney he is there to investigate the church where a murder took place.
Clint shows up at the farmhouse to take the boys, but leaves after the Deputy says he needs a
court order
A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying o ...
. Courtney wants to leave but the Deputy convinces her not to, knowing that leaving would continue the murders connected to Bughuul. Courtney invites him to stay overnight, and the two develop a budding romance.
The Deputy meets with Prof. Stromberg, who has come into possession of a
ham radio that belonged to Prof. Jonas, who has mysteriously disappeared, revealing that the radio first belonged to a
Norwegian family from 1973. He plays a recording of a young girl yelling to her mother before killing her family and playing the piano. Prof. Stromberg reveals that Bughuul was believed to be reachable by ritual/sacrifice and to have been feeding on the corruption of innocents, with three common traits present: a murdered family, missing children, and an iconological totem/offering in the form of art as an "aesthetic observance of violence", in order to summon Bughuul. The Deputy orders Stromberg to destroy the ham radio.
Zach becomes jealous of the ghost children's attention to Dylan and begins to act violently towards his brother. The children show Dylan the video of the church murders, depicting a family being nailed to the floor by their hands and feet and have rats burrow through their abdomens, leaving them to bleed out (''Sunday Service''). After Dylan refuses to watch further, the children turn their attention to Zach and abandon Dylan, saying he is not their real target.
Clint arrives with the court order and Courtney goes with him to protect her sons. The Deputy drives to Clint's home to warn them about the danger, but Clint beats him up and threatens the Deputy to leave. The next day, Zach films his family in an outdoor hangout. That night, Dylan contacts the Deputy for help as he and his parents lose consciousness.
Courtney, Dylan, and Clint are drugged and hung on scarecrow posts with sacks over their heads in the cornfield by Clint's house (similar to Dylan's nightmare in the opening scene). A possessed Zach douses his family in three separate trails of
gasoline
Gasoline ( North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When for ...
, lights Clint on fire, and films his death. Just as Zach is about to light Dylan on fire, the Deputy arrives at the Collins' residence, hitting Zach with his car. He frees Courtney and Dylan as they flee into the cornfield. However, Zach survives and chases after them, cutting off the Deputy's fingers with a sickle.
Inside the home, the ghost children try to help Zach find them. Just as Zach is about to kill Courtney and Dylan, the Deputy manages to destroy the camera, breaking the cycle. Zach is admonished by the ghost children for failing. Bughuul appears and as punishment Zach's body decomposes rapidly, with a cloth projection screen bursting into flames, causing the house to catch on fire as the Deputy, Courtney, and Dylan escape.
Later, while collecting his things to leave with Courtney and Dylan, the Deputy finds the ham radio in his motel room. The ghost children begin speaking to him through it before Bughuul suddenly appears and the screen cuts to black.
Cast
Production
Development
A sequel to ''Sinister'' (2012) was announced to be in the works in March 2013, with writers
Scott Derrickson and
C. Robert Cargill returning, but the former not directing as he did on the first film.
In April 2014, it was announced that
Ciarán Foy would direct the film, and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Charles Layton,
Xavier Marchand, and Patrice Théroux would executive produce the sequel with
eOne Entertainment.
Filming
Principal photography began on August 19, 2014, in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
. It was shot for six weeks in locations including St. Anne and outside the village of
Grant Park.
Post-production
On May 20, 2015,
Focus Features relaunched their
Gramercy Pictures label for action, horror, and science-fiction films. ''Sinister 2'' was one of Gramercy's new releases.
Release
''Sinister 2'' released theatrically in the United States on August 21, 2015, and was distributed by
Focus Features.
Home media
''Sinister 2'' was released on DVD and Blu-ray on January 12, 2016.
Reception
Box office
The movie grossed $27,740,955 domestically and $26,363,270 internationally.
The film earned $850,000 in ticket sales from late-night showings on Thursday and by the end of its first week, the movie earned $10,542,116, making it a
Box Office Bomb, and is lower than its predecessor which pulled in $18,007,634.
Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
gave the film an approval rating of 14%, based on 91 reviews with an average rating of 4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''Sinister 2'' has a few ingredients that will be familiar to fans of the original; unfortunately, in this slapdash second installment, none of them are scary anymore."
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
gives the film a score of 32 out of 100, based on reviews from 17 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data.
Background
Ed Mintz, who ...
gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.
''
IGN'' awarded it a score of 1 out of 10, rating it "unbearable". The site says, "''Sinister 2'' is an abysmal follow-up to its predecessor. At least that film knew that less is more. And less is scarier." MoviePilot also awarded the film 1 out of 10, calling it "one of the worst horror films of the last few years."
Future
Potential crossover
Prior to the release of ''
Insidious: The Last Key'',
Jason Blum stated that a
crossover film between ''Sinister'' and the
''Insidious'' series had previously been in development, tentatively entitled ''Insinister'', and that he personally believed it had potential for re-entering it, stating that "we're going to cross our worlds at some point".
Potential sequel
In October 2023, Scott Derrickson stated that he has interest in returning to the ''Sinister'' franchise. While the filmmaker said he believed that ''Sinister 2'' hadn't taken the right approach, he stated that he believes there are various ways that a sequel could be developed moving forward.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinister 2
2015 films
2015 horror films
Films shot in Chicago
American sequel films
Films about snuff films
American ghost films
American supernatural horror films
Blumhouse Productions films
Demons in film
Horror films about child villains
Lionsgate Canada films
Focus Features films
Gramercy Pictures films
Films produced by Jason Blum
Films about Bogeymen
Films about nightmares
Films about domestic violence
Films about child abuse
Films scored by Tomandandy
Films set on farms
Religious horror films
2010s English-language films
2010s American films
2010s Canadian films
English-language Canadian films
Films about human sacrifice
English-language horror films
Canadian ghost films
Canadian supernatural horror films
films about dysfunctional families