Sinister (2012)

True crime writer Ellison and his family move to a small town so he can get inspiration for his new book.  What his family doesn't know is that the house he bought was the sight of a murder.   No idea why he can't be inspired unless he's in or near a murder house, but there you go.

The first night things get weird when Ellison finds his son doing the backward bending possession stance while popping out of a moving box.  Also his daughter gets lost going to the bathroom. I know it's a new house, but the damn thing is a ranch. It's only one story. I kept hoping she would get lost every night.

Ellison finds a box of old Super 8 movies and a projector in the attic.  When he starts watching them, he discovers they are home movies of families and the films end with their murders.

Thinking he's found a gold mine of evidence and uncovered a career making story about an undiscovered serial killer, he neglects to tell the police that he has footage of multiple murders. Uh oh, that's not going to turn out well.

If I had seen this movie in a dark theater, it really would have spooked me.  But I didn't. I watched it in early evening and it was still light out. There are plenty of things which can be overlooked to enjoy the film, but they also provide a good chance to make jokes at the films expense.

• There are kid-like drawings of the dead families which also show a killer named Mr. Boogie.  Even though you know it's a reference to the boogieman, Mr. Boogie sounds like a disco dancer.
• If Ellison knows enough to thread a film projector, how can he not know that pausing the film means the heat from the light bulb will cause the film to burn?  
• Since Ellison is obsessed with finding a shot of the face he saw in the film (and burned), then why doesn't he notice that his daughter's drawn the exact damn face on her wall?  
• I know he feels this is his In Cold Blood, but he's got multiple films of murders of entire families that span from the 1960s to the current day. Someone's gonna die again and since the box is in your house, what makes you think the killer won't be back for it?
• Deputy So and So believes in paranormal and knows the history of the house. Yet when Ellison is freaked out and relating his experience, the Deputy suggests its from all the rum he's drinking.

Honestly, it was an okay film, even though we made fun of it.