Sinister 2 (2015) Dir: Ciarán Foy

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Ciarán Foy's sequel to 2012's popular 'Sinister' horror film looked to be a rinse and repeat job. I was hoping to see this second film expand upon the fairly solid foundations of its predecessor, though I could not help but note the drop in critical and audience reception, by contrast. I decided to keep my expectations fairly low, without being on the floor, so-to-speak.

This film was world's apart from the first one, and not in a good way. It was boring, generic, and slow. Instead of mixing the mystery with the horror, like in the first film, this instead focused on the supernatural elements, which simply did not work in the film's favour at all. It ripped away the little uniqueness the film would've had and made it horribly unremarkable.

The horror was extremely formulaic and lazy, which was a real disappointment. It felt like a significant step back - certainly as it pertained to my enjoyment. Instead of creeping suspense, there were a number of half-hearted jump scares scattered throughout, none of which actually succeeded in making me jump.

The narrative basically repeated that of the first film, but without any of the execution which made that aforementioned first film watchable. The film may only be a little over ninety minutes, but it felt about thirty too long. There were too many repeated scenes, too little action, and too few genuinely interesting moments. These shortfalls were compounded by a poor and predictable ending, which did absolutely nothing for me.

James Ransone, who was the only familiar face from the first film, returned with what can only be described as a tame performance. I think it said a lot that the writer's never bothered giving his character an actual name in either of these films - it certainly tracked with how bland and generic the ex-deputy persona was. It's not that I disliked his acting, it's more that I found it incredibly unmemorable.

Shannyn sossamon's performance had some good qualities to it, but it lacked consistency, which was, I must admit, pretty frustrating. She had the motherly side of her character down, but I found her anger, as well as some of the other more expressive emotions she showed, totally unconvincing. She also had a severe lack of chemistry with Ransone, which didn't help matters.

Real life brothers Robert Daniel Sloan and Dartanian Sloan play on-screen siblings, and their relationship with one another was certainly convincing. However, some poorly written scenes and dialogue made both look worse than I think they actually were. Of the two, Robert Daniel Sloan had the better of it, although neither truly excelled in their roles, unfortunately.

Overall, despite my modest expectations, I was left disappointed and disgruntled by this substandard sequel. It felt like the film tried to play it safe, but ended up falling flat on its face anyway. The first film wasn't exactly a modern classic, it was alright, but this second film makes it look like a stormer of a film. Put simply, this was very bad. It's not necessary or worth watching, even if you're somebody who absolutely loved the previous film.