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38 UCW SEPTEMBER 23-29, 2015 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM While Sinister had some issues with being too formu- laic, at least it brought some original ideas to the table. Sinister 2 (97 minutes) follows a pretty predictable pat- tern, without the visceral punch of the first one. Well, at least James Ransone, reprising his role as Deputy So-and-So from the original, is a much more likable lead than Mr. Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) from the first film. Fans of B-grade horror movies will notice that the setting is pretty reminiscent of 1984's Children of the Corn— that's completely intentional. Sinister 2 draws heavily on that film for inspiration. Dylan and Zack Collins (Robert Daniel and Dartanian Sloan) are twins living with their mother Non- Specifically Southern Accent (Shannyn Sossamon). Dylan is having nightmares, Zach is a budding sociopath, and Non-Specifically Southern Accent is hiding out from her abusive husband. Simultaneously, Deputy So-and-So (James Ransone) from the first film, now Ex-Deputy-So-and-So, is track- ing Bughuul-related deaths around the states. When he comes across a home that is associated with the demon, he engages in some arson, and moves on. It's not super clear what he hopes to accomplish, since it is more or less estab- lished in the first film that Bughuul doesn't get the kids to kill their families until they move from the house where he established his hold over them into a new house, which then becomes the setting for him to control another child in an end- lessly repeating cycle. There's no indication that the houses are used by Bughuul more than once, so maybe Deputy So-and-So just likes setting stuff on fire. Anyway, he tracks Bughuul to an old church that has been converted into a fur- niture refinishing shop by Non-Specifically Southern Accent. Naturally, the kids spot him, gasoline can and matches at the ready, which leads to a hilarious mis- understanding. To wit; she assumes he is a private eye sent to locate her and her children so her abusive husband can engage in some custodial interference while all he really wants to do is burn her house down. Of course, it is too late for that. Bughuul has already latched onto one of the kids, and as soon as they move it will be time for the murder party. Deputy So-and-So isn't really equipped to figure out this particular logic puzzle, so he decides to sit back and see what happens from a safe distance. It is unusual for the male protagonist of a horror movie to sensibly hang back and NOT insist on spending as much as time in the murder house as possible, but it also leaves Non-Specifically Southern Accent and her kids both ignorant and unprotected. Luckily, her abusive husband shows up during the time that the Deputy is around, leaving him with little choice but to stick around overnight and make absolutely no effort to monitor the movements of a possibly possessed boy. To be fair, it is much easier for him to make a move on Non-Specifically Southern Accent when he forgets to men- tion that one of her children is going to kill her as soon as she changes residences. Overall, I liked it, but it also generated most of its fear factor through the victimization and degradation of innocent children. The first one featured the ghost children, but they seemed more like victims. Here, they take center stage over Bughuul and entice their similarly childish victims into watching their homemade horror porn—a far more nasty kind of story then having Bughuul as the main antagonist. Finally, the domestic violence subplot was a little too real to mesh well with the kind of escapist horror the franchise should be aiming for. I did have nightmares, but I don't know if that is a gauge of how effective the movie was, or how overactive my imagina- tion is. Now showing at Patriot 14 +IMAX. Nightmares in the Murder House Sinister 2 (Rated R) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910.484.6200.