10 Horror Movies One Step From Perfection

Released in 2012, director Scott Derrickson's Sinister remains his strongest film, and it's largely thanks to a combination of patient, atmospheric storytelling and a stellar central turn from the always-underrated Ethan Hawke.

Playing a true crime author who has succumbed to alcoholism and depression in the years since his blockbuster debut hit, Hawke brings a dramatic heft to the role which is sorely lacking in most genre outings, and makes the clever call to treat the potentially corny horror elements dead straight.

As a result, the gradual reveal of first ghost kids, and eventually the demonic entity Bughuul, feel rooted in a recognizable reality, and the film's frequent terrifying snuff film sequences ensure the more over-the-top supernatural elements remain deeply creepy.

For most of its runtime, this tense ghost story manages to be a masterful piece of suspense and a tragic story of a worn-down has-been struggling with his irrelevance at the same time.

Then the hero's nine year old daughter manages to drug and axe murders her entire family single-handedly. Sure, why not? That's not at all a laughable concept, and it's not like it throws away the until-now chilling atmosphere of the flick.