10 Most Messed Up Horror Movie Openings
5. Sinister
Usually a movie inside a movie is a tasty little meta treat, a really enjoyable bit. Sinister is the exact opposite of this, teasing us with home home-movies being found only to reveal that they’re not funny family videos but instead a collection of horrible murders. Thanks, I hate it.
We start with the absolute classic set-up of a family moving into a new house, a house that we as the audience just know is bad news. Admittedly, knowing that the previous inhabitants were murdered in the house, the family definitely also should’ve known it was bad news.
True crime writer Ellison investigates the attic and finds a box of old film and a projector. This old film contains films of a number of families being murdered in a range of gruesome ways, including having their throats cut, hanging, drowning and burning.
It’s definitely a way to set the tone for the rest of the film, but it also kills the sympathy vote right away. If you find that in your attic and don’t immediately move out, you’re almost asking to be murdered.