Sinistre

Director - Ronnie Sortor (Remains, Ravage)
Starring - Steve Kelly, Daniel Skinner (PMS Cop, Shadow Bound), and J. Gregory Dollarhide (Ravage)
Release Date - 1996
Genre - Crime/Horror
Tagline - "From the director of Ravage"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I get asked to review a lot of movies.  I love it.  I love when a filmmaker or distribution company reaches out to me to review a film.  It is a very humbling experience to say the least.  Sometimes these movies are duds and at times they end up being pretty fucking entertaining.  Not long ago I was contacted on Facebook to check out the film Sinistre (not to be confused with the Ethan Hawke film Sinister).  It looked like a fun indie flick and I accepted the offer to review it.  I put it on my shelf with other films to review and when it was time to put it's neck on the chopping block I noticed that this was not a new indie film at all.  Instead, it is a 1996 shot on video no budget film that was recently remastered.  This was a big surprise and made me even more excited to check it out.

     The film follows a group of petty thieves who plan to rob a business owner for a quick score.  However, they did not expect the business owner to be packing and get in a gunfight.  They make off with the cash and head to an abandoned house to hold out but quickly learn the house is not deserted but its home to something foul and sinister.
 



     I honestly had no idea what kind of film I would be watching when I realized that it was a 20 year old SOV flick.  Hell, by the 30 minute mark I was ready to give this one a negative review but the film kicked it into gear not long after that moment and delivered the goods.  The acting in this one is far from good.  The cast, including the films supernatural bad guys, was trying way too hard.  They overdone their performances resulting in an almost comical approach to the scenes.  The cast has a hard time making it natural.  Even the guy with a slug in his gut doesn't know how to act about dying.  The cast isn't bad they just lacked direction.  The story for this one is fun and a lot more than I expected.  The film begins as a cheap crime drama with some petty criminals knocking over a business for some cash.  The film then switches it up on the viewer and turns into a bloody and dark horror film complete with an evil force of nature and zombies.  The story has a lot of great ideas but does suffer with pacing problems during the first 30 minutes of so.  The first half of the film is painfully slow and could use a bit of editing to speed the story along.  Finally the film has a few great on screen kills and great practical effects.  The kills range from gun wounds to typical slasher deaths all of which showcase some great special effects.  I particularly enjoyed the gun wounds.  Rare to see an indie film pull those off like that.  Overall, Sinistre is a must.  The story is a little hard to swallow but if you are patient the pay off is worth it (that's what she said).  Check this one out if you haven't!