Sinister 2 / [REC] 3: Genesis

In 2012, director Scott Derrickson and his co-writer C. Robert Cargill cooked up Sinister, an above average horror offering. Ethan Hawke starred as a true-crime author who moves into a new house with his wife and two children, aiming to rejuvenate his career by writing about a family that was killed there years before. Instead he opens up his loved ones to hair-raising, stomach-churning dangers.

Now comes the sequel, Sinister 2, in which a mother (Shannyn Sossamon) moves into a new house with her two young children without having any idea about the peril that awaits. Again written by Derrickson and Cargill, the followup apparently focuses more on the children, which marks it as relatively rare, since most scary sequels are content to repeat the formula that made the original a success.

To get in the proper mood for Sinister 2, we've gathered more horror movies that aren't afraid to break the rules, coming up with terrifying new spins on the scary originals.

 

[REC] 3: Genesis (2012)

The first two, highly-regarded entries in the series established a claustrophic atmosphere of terror in an apartment building, effectively using the found-footage style to enhance the scares. The third installment tossed aside the found-footage angle after about 20 minutes, and even dared to take a comic approach and add romantic melodrama, making the movie more of a very bloody Spanish telenovela -- with zombies!

 

Land of the Dead (2005)

While the movie is a ferocious action picture, George A. Romero effectively weaved in commentary on the growing chasm between the materially wealthy and the disadvantaged lower classes, all while telling the story in several notably different landscapes than in the first three films in the series.

 

Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000)

The original was a box-office sensation and introduced the idea of "found footage" to a wide audience. The sequel boldly dispensed with that style of filming, while continuing to blur the line between reality and fiction.

 

Bride of Chucky (1998)

The trailer only hints at the dark humor within the fourth installment of the Child's Play series, which departs from relatively straight horror by acknowledging, and making fun of, the idea of a killer doll come to life.

 

Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)

Original creator Wes Craven returned as writer and director for the seventh installment of the series, bringing back Heather Langenkamp as a wife and mother who becomes concerned about her young son's very odd behavior. The movie toyed with the boundaries between dreams, nightmares, and real life.

 

Army of Darkness (1992)

The heroic Ash (Bruce Campbell) is hurled back to the Middle Ages in director Sam Raimi's third installment, which freely mixed broad comedy and swashbuckling action into more familiar horror elements, creating a unique and refreshing hybrid.

 

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)

Joe Dante's sequel merrily married horror and comedy to an even greater degree than the excellent original, all while moving the action to New York City and poking fun at a broader range of targets.

 

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

A true stand-alone entry in the series, the third installment departed entirely from the first two films, reflecting the wishes of original creators John Carpenter and Debra Hill. The film introduced new characters and focused on modern-day elements of witchcraft.