If you are looking for some genuine acting chops at this year’s Frightfest, Sinister might be just the treat you are looking for.

Starring Ethan Hawke and Vincent D’Onofrio among others, and directed by Scott Derrickson (who brought us The Exorcism Of Emily Rose), this has a real stamp of quality.

Hawke plays Ellison Oswald, a true crime writer who has made a career out of exposing police mistakes.

Taking his writing one stage further, he decides to move into the house where a small-town death took place to channel his creative juices.

Before long though (and after the discovery of some old home movies), Oswald becomes convinced that there are dark forces at play, involving the ancient occult.

Whether it be in the likes of Training Day, Gattaca or Daybreakers, Hawke is an actor I have always found easy to watch, and he obviously has no problem turning his hand to genre material.

Early word says he produces an excellent performance as a writer struggling to come to grips with what is happening around him, so we await this one with interest.

Sinister screens at Frightfest on Sunday, August 26.

 

About The Author

Simon Fitzjohn

Simon is a journalism tutor in London, who also just happens to be a movie fanatic, with a craving for the darker side of cinema. He has written two books, one on the horror films of director Bob Clark (2014) and the other on the history of the character Norman Bates (2015). His third book, on the work of British exploitation director Pete Walker, is due in 2017.