10 Critically Reviled Horror Movies (That Weren't Actually That Bad)
7. Sinister 2
Irish director Ciaran Foy made a
mark in 2012 with his tense, claustrophobic horror Citadel. Soon, a brief Twitter
exchange with Scott Derrickson, recent Marvel exile and writer/ director of
2012’s Sinister, saw Foy net himself the job following up Derrickson’s
original.
The director did an admirable job, recruiting the first film’s James Ransome and A Knight’s Tale star/ early oughts teen dream Shannon Sossamon for the sequel.
The follow-up refused to re-tread the same beats as its predecessor, instead delving into the difficult family relationship of two young boys plagued both by the demonic Bughul and the more pedestrian, but no less urgent, threat of their abusive father. Like the first flick, these more dramatic scenes depicting Sossamon’s struggle with her volatile ex and Ransome’s attempts to protect her are some of the film’s best, and the supernatural horror is often left in the background until the opportune moment for a jump scare strikes.
Add in the fact that the film doesn’t indulge in the first movie’s super bleak cruel twist and you end up with a pretty superb sequel which was nonetheless written off as sub-par due to—well, just due to the fact that it’s a sequel in the horror genre.