The What Happened to This Horror Movie episode on Sinister was written by Jaime Vasquez:
When Sinister hit theaters in 2012, it quickly became one of the defining horror movies of the decade. Blending supernatural terror with gritty realism, Scott Derrickson’s film struck a nerve with audiences and became an instant cult favorite. Years later, it earned another claim to fame when a scientific study dubbed it the scariest movie ever made. But bringing those unforgettable scares to the screen wasn’t always easy.
How were the infamous Super 8 films created? Which horror icons helped inspire Bughuul? And does Sinister really deserve its reputation as the scariest movie ever made?
Fire up the projector and maybe leave the lights on as we explore What Happened to Sinister.
Before becoming a successful screenwriter, C. Robert Cargill made a name for himself reviewing movies for Ain’t It Cool News. Looking back, he has described the experience as his version of college. The site’s comment section became his classroom, with positive feedback serving as encouragement and harsh criticism acting like bad grades. More importantly, it taught him what worked in storytelling and what didn’t. Those reviews eventually caught the attention of director Scott Derrickson, who had become a fan after realizing the two shared remarkably similar tastes in film. What began as conversations on Twitter soon turned into a creative partnership.
Derrickson had already established himself in horror with Hellraiser: Inferno and The Exorcism of Emily Rose. But his next project, the big-budget remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, became a frustrating experience. Studio interference left him creatively exhausted, and by the time production ended, he knew his next film had to be something smaller, more personal, and entirely under his control.
As Derrickson searched for that fresh start, Cargill couldn’t shake a nightmare he’d experienced years earlier after watching The Ring. In the dream, he discovered a box of Super 8 snuff films hidden in his attic. So, in a roundabout way, Bughuul owes his existence to Samara. Not exactly the crossover anyone asked for, but we’ll take it.
In January 2011, Cargill and Derrickson both happened to be in Las Vegas. Meeting for drinks at the Mandalay Bay, Cargill pitched a screenplay he’d been calling Found Footage. Derrickson immediately saw the potential, and the pair quickly set about writing the script together. Once completed, it landed in the hands of producer Jason Blum, who had been hoping to collaborate with Derrickson ever since becoming a fan of The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Through Blumhouse, Blum agreed to finance the project for just $3 million. While that budget was tiny by Hollywood standards, it came with something far more valuable: complete creative freedom.
Blum also pointed out that Found Footage was a misleading title. Despite the presence of home movies, the film wasn’t actually a found-footage movie, and audiences might expect something very different. Fresh off the success of Insidious, Derrickson settled on a simple, one-word title: Sinister.
One of Derrickson’s first priorities during pre-production wasn’t casting or locations, it was finding the music for the Super 8 films. He spent days combing through horror forums and obscure music recommendations before discovering artists like Aghast and Ulver. Their haunting, experimental music became one of the defining ingredients of the film’s atmosphere, and with Jason Blum’s help, Derrickson secured the rights to nine tracks.
He also incorporated music from Sunn O))) along with Boards of Canada. One of the band’s most memorable contributions is “Gyroscope,” a track inspired by a nightmare. Marcus Eoin has said he composed it while drifting between sleep and wakefulness, trying to recreate the sounds he heard in his dream. The piece also incorporates elements inspired by mysterious number stations, radio broadcasts long rumored to transmit coded messages to spies. Eoin later admitted that the finished track still frightens him.
Bughuul almost looked very different. Cargill initially imagined the villain as a twisted, deranged version of Willy Wonka; a figure who would appear strangely inviting to children before revealing something far more sinister beneath the surface. The studio wasn’t convinced. According to Cargill, the concept leaned too far into the bizarre to be genuinely frightening. Ironically, he later admitted his original vision looked surprisingly similar to Mister Babadook from The Babadook, which wouldn’t arrive until years later.
Searching for something more unsettling, Derrickson spent days browsing Flickr, narrowing thousands of images down to just fifteen. He sent the finalists to Cargill with one simple question: Which one disturbed him the most? Both men independently chose the same photograph. The image, simply titled “Natalie” for reasons still unknown, immediately stood out. It had exactly the eerie quality they were searching for. Only a few adjustments were needed. The figure was dressed in a suit, the hair was made greasier, and the eyes were darkened. ughuul was born.
Derrickson and Cargill tracked down the original artist, paid $500 for the rights to use the image, and credited them with the film’s concept art.
At the center of Sinister is true crime writer Ellison Oswalt, a man whose obsession with success slowly destroys everything around him. C. Robert Cargill has explained that Ellison’s name is a tribute to two very different people: legendary speculative fiction author Harlan Ellison and actor Patton Oswalt, a well-known horror fan. But the character himself came from a much more personal place.
Both Cargill and Scott Derrickson admitted they shared the fear that chasing professional success could eventually cost them their families. For Derrickson, those anxieties only intensified after the difficult production of The Day the Earth Stood Still, when he wondered whether he’d ever regain his footing as a filmmaker. Those fears became Ellison Oswalt.
Rather than creating a traditional horror hero, they wrote a deeply flawed protagonist whose greatest enemy isn’t Bughuul, it’s his own ambition. That complexity was one of the biggest reasons Academy Award nominee Ethan Hawke signed on. After nearly three decades in Hollywood, Hawke said he found Ellison’s struggles surprisingly relatable. He appreciated that the character wasn’t simply good or bad, but someone whose flaws felt painfully human.
Like Jason Blum, Hawke had also been eager to work with Derrickson after seeing The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Even so, he admitted he initially hesitated to make a horror movie, worrying it might invite negative energy into his life. Once filming began, however, he found the experience surprisingly enjoyable.
Before production, Derrickson showed Hawke one of the most famous scenes in horror history, the “Here’s Johnny!” sequence from The Shining. But there was a twist. He edited Shelley Duvall’s reactions out of the scene. The point wasn’t to study Jack Nicholson’s performance. It was to demonstrate that what truly frightens audiences isn’t the monster, it’s watching someone else experience genuine terror. That lesson became one of Derrickson’s guiding principles throughout production.
To capture Ellison’s reactions authentically, Hawke was never shown the infamous Super 8 murder films before shooting. When the cameras rolled, he watched the completed reels, complete with their deeply unsettling soundtrack, for the very first time. The horror you see on Ellison’s face isn’t acting. It’s Ethan Hawke reacting in real time.
Hawke had admired Juliet Rylance’s stage work for years and believed she’d be perfect as Ellison’s wife, Tracy. After mentioning her to Derrickson, the director agreed, and she was quickly cast. Rylance gives Tracy a grounded, understated performance that serves as an emotional anchor for the film. As Ellison becomes increasingly consumed by his investigation, Tracy remains the voice of reason, making the family’s slow unraveling feel all the more believable. Of course, she’s also handling the revelation that her husband secretly moved their family into a house where an entire family was murdered, and then neglected to mention that little detail.
She’s taking it a lot better than most of us probably would.
One of the film’s most memorable characters almost looked very different. Scott Derrickson struggled to find the right actor for Deputy So-and-So, explaining that every audition missed the delicate balance the character required. Then he remembered James Ransone. Known primarily for dramatic work in series like The Wire and Generation Kill, Ransone wasn’t an obvious comedic choice. In fact, Derrickson offered him the role without an audition. After a Skype conversation, the director knew he’d found exactly what he was looking for.
Ransone understood that Deputy So-and-So couldn’t become comic relief. Instead, he plays him as slightly awkward, endlessly enthusiastic, and genuinely competent, a combination that gives the character enormous charm without ever undermining the film’s tension. The performance became one of the movie’s biggest surprises.
According to Derrickson, test audiences consistently responded most strongly to two things: The terrifying Super 8 films and Deputy So-and-So. Ethan Hawke later summed it up even more simply. In his opinion, James Ransone “steals the film.”
Vincent D’Onofrio appears briefly as Professor Jonas, the occult expert who helps explain Bughuul’s mythology. Although his scenes are memorable, D’Onofrio chose to remain uncredited. His role was relatively small, and he later said he accepted it largely as a favor to his friend Ethan Hawke… and because it sounded like fun.
Even though Professor Jonas and Ellison communicate over webcam, Hawke revealed that D’Onofrio was actually performing from the next room, allowing the actors to deliver their dialogue naturally instead of reacting to pre-recorded footage. D’Onofrio completed all of his scenes in just half a day.
Despite his limited screen time, his performance adds credibility to material that could easily have felt like routine exposition.
Cargill and Derrickson also knew exactly who they wanted to play the Sheriff: veteran actor Fred Dalton Thompson. The filmmakers wanted someone who could project authority the moment he walked into a room, that classic Western energy that says, “Get out of my town.” Thompson absolutely delivers.
Since Ellison’s previous books portrayed local law enforcement in an unflattering light, the Sheriff wastes little time making it clear exactly how he feels about the writer. Unfortunately for Ellison, the Sheriff is about to become the least of his problems.
Bringing Bughuul to life fell to stunt performer Nicholas King, who landed the role through an unexpected connection. His father was the film’s stunt coordinator and told both Nicholas and his brother about the audition. Only about six performers ultimately tried out. Derrickson chose King because he perfectly matched the physical presence he envisioned for Bughuul: tall, lean, and unsettling without appearing physically imposing. His stunt background also made him an ideal choice. Before Sinister, King had appeared in productions like The Green Hornet and Paranormal Activity 3.
But playing Bughuul required far more than stunt work, it required presence. To prepare, King sought advice from none other than Kane Hodder, the man best known for playing Jason Voorhees and a longtime friend of King’s father. Hodder encouraged him to place himself in a genuinely dark emotional state while portraying the character. King took the advice seriously. He largely isolated himself from the rest of the cast and crew during production, and the elaborate makeup helped reinforce that separation by making conversation difficult.
The transformation wasn’t quick, either. Applying Bughuul’s makeup took roughly three hours. Removing it required another two. The long process proved worthwhile, helping create one of modern horror’s most instantly recognizable villains.
Production on Sinister took place over five months in New York, but from the beginning, Scott Derrickson knew one element had to work above all else: the Super 8 home movies. If those disturbing reels weren’t convincing, the entire film would fall apart. To make them feel authentic, Derrickson rejected the idea of artificially degrading digital footage. Instead, he insisted on shooting the sequences on actual Super 8 film. That decision created an unexpected problem. By the early 2010s, working Super 8 cameras had become surprisingly difficult to find. Rental cameras were available, but the footage consistently came back with disappointing results. Cinematographer Chris Norr eventually solved the problem by purchasing his own Super 8 camera, giving the production a reliable way to shoot every murder reel.
Even then, filming remained unpredictable. Sometimes the footage came back soft or slightly out of focus, and because it was genuine Super 8 film, there was no easy way to fix it. Ironically, those imperfections became one of the movie’s greatest strengths. The grain, blur, and inconsistencies made the films feel frighteningly authentic, as though audiences were watching real home movies that should never have been discovered.
The murder reels have become Sinister‘s signature moments, and several proved just as difficult to make as they are disturbing to watch.
One of the most technically demanding sequences was “Pool Party ’66.” To avoid constantly repairing Bughuul’s makeup, Nicholas King remained underwater for nearly three hours while the crew worked through the scene. He surfaced only briefly for air, relying most of the time on a small oxygen tank concealed beneath his sleeve. He also wore weights to limit his movement and help maintain the eerie stillness of Bughuul beneath the water.
Meanwhile, the crew had to carefully check the Super 8 camera’s cartridge and light meter before every take. Because of the format’s limitations, there was almost no room for error. They also faced another challenge. The actors strapped into lawn chairs were literally being pulled underwater. Every take required careful timing to ensure both the stunt and the camera worked perfectly.
As difficult as “Pool Party ’66” was, the film’s opening hanging sequence proved even more challenging. According to art director John El Manahi, it became one of the production’s most demanding practical effects.
Since the scene opens the film, everyone knew it had to be perfect. The crew transported a full-sized tree from Pennsylvania, modified it, and buried it on location specifically for the sequence. El Manahi quickly became concerned about the original stunt rig, believing it wasn’t the safest approach. His preferred design used a counterweight system attached to a crane, allowing performers to remain safely supported instead of hanging freely. The stunt team also incorporated full-body harnesses similar to those used by Cirque du Soleil performers.
After extensive testing, the sequence appeared ready. Then disaster struck. During one of the earlier and less safe attempts, a performer slipped from his harness, causing the noose to tighten around his neck. Production immediately shut down. Filming was suspended for roughly a week while the accident was investigated. Derrickson later revealed it was only the second time he’d ever fired someone during his career. Believing the production had become dangerously unsafe, he dismissed the stunt coordinator.
The incident also changed the way he directed films. Derrickson admitted it was one of the few major effects sequences he hadn’t personally supervised, and afterward, he made a point of closely monitoring every major stunt himself.
Ironically, the delays created one final problem. By the time filming resumed, the imported tree’s leaves had naturally turned brown. The crew had to repaint every leaf green to maintain continuity.
Another unforgettable image features a young boy crawling backward out of a cardboard box. It looks like clever visual effects, but it wasn’t. According to El Manahi, the production achieved the shot almost entirely in-camera. He dismantled an ab roller and converted it into a custom rig that allowed the child actor to glide smoothly backward over the box while remaining fully supported.
It’s a remarkably simple practical effect, and one that produces one of the film’s eeriest moments.
The final special effect filmed was the bloody hallway sequence. When Chris Norr reviewed the footage, he immediately thought something had gone wrong. Once again, portions of the Super 8 image had drifted out of focus. At first, he feared they’d lost another day’s work. Instead, the opposite happened. When the crew watched the footage together, they realized the accidental blurriness actually made the scene feel even more unsettling.
What initially looked like a technical mistake became one of the sequence’s greatest strengths. The footage made it into the finished film exactly as it was shot.
While the Super 8 sequences created many of the movie’s most memorable images, the rest of Sinister presented an entirely different challenge. Chris Norr originally assumed the production would shoot on traditional film. Instead, the studio insisted on digital cameras. At the time, digital cinematography wasn’t nearly as forgiving in low-light conditions as it is today. Darkening footage during post-production often created unnatural-looking images. Rather than relying on digital fixes, Norr darkened the sets themselves, carefully controlling where light fell inside each room.
The approach helped create Sinister‘s signature shadowy aesthetic while avoiding the artificial look common to many early digital productions. It also explains why the Oswalt house sometimes appears to contain approximately three functioning lightbulbs, maximum.
Although Sinister marked Norr’s first horror film, he approached it like any other project. Only after production wrapped did the movie truly affect him. Months later, while attending the color grading session at a New York theater, Norr found himself watching the nearly completed film alone around midnight. After spending months focused on lighting, framing, and camera placement, he was finally able to experience the movie as an audience member. That’s when it hit him. They hadn’t just made a horror movie, they’d made something genuinely frightening.
Sinister was released on October 12, 2012. Although it didn’t open at number one, it delivered an impressive debut, earning more than $18 million in North America during its opening weekend. By the end of its theatrical run, the film had grossed $48 million domestically and another $34 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $82.5 million. Not bad for a movie that cost just $3 million to make.
Even more impressive, Sinister achieved those numbers without the built-in audience that comes with a major franchise, sequel, or remake. It was an original horror film, and one that became one of Blumhouse’s earliest success stories.
Critics were generally positive toward Sinister, although not universally enthusiastic. The film currently holds a 64% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences gave it a similar 62%. IMDb users have rated it 6.8 out of 10. The biggest criticism centered on the movie’s reliance on familiar horror conventions, particularly during its final act.
Even many of the film’s detractors, however, agreed on one thing: the scares work. More specifically, the Super 8 films remain some of the most disturbing sequences modern horror has produced.
Years after its release, Sinister unexpectedly found itself back in the spotlight. BroadbandChoices, a UK-based broadband comparison service, conducted an experiment in which 250 participants watched a selection of horror films while researchers monitored their heart rates. Sinister produced the biggest average increase. Participants began with an average resting heart rate of 65 beats per minute, which climbed to 86 beats per minute during the film, an increase of roughly 32 percent.
The study generated headlines around the world and helped cement Sinister‘s reputation as “the scariest movie ever made.” Scott Derrickson wasn’t entirely surprised. He believes the Super 8 films work so well because they leave so much to the imagination. Audiences only witness fragments of each family’s fate, never the full story, allowing viewers to imagine horrors even worse than what’s shown on screen. That uncertainty, Derrickson argues, creates a level of suspense that explicit violence rarely achieves.
BroadbandChoices repeated the experiment over several years, and Sinister held the top spot most of the time. It was finally overtaken in 2021 by Rob Savage’s Host.
Whether those studies actually prove one movie is objectively scarier than another is, of course, open to debate. But there’s no denying Sinister earned its place in the conversation.
The film’s bleak ending was always part of Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill’s plan. Jason Blum, however, had one final request. He wanted one last scare before the credits rolled. Which explains why Bughuul suddenly pops into frame at the very end, as if he hadn’t already spent the previous ninety minutes terrifying everyone.
Cargill has frequently defended the film’s uncompromising ending. He compares it to classics like The Shining, The Omen, The Exorcist, and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Those films don’t necessarily end happily. Even when someone survives, as Sally Hardesty does in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, the trauma never truly ends. Cargill believed Sinister deserved that same kind of lingering darkness.
Although Ellison Oswalt’s fate left no realistic path for Ethan Hawke to return, James Ransone reprised his role as Deputy So-and-So in Sinister 2, directed by Ciarán Foy from a script by Derrickson and Cargill. Unfortunately, lightning didn’t strike twice. The sequel turned a respectable profit, but it failed to connect with audiences and critics the way the original had. As a result, Blumhouse never fast-tracked a third installment.
That doesn’t mean the franchise is necessarily finished. Both Derrickson and Cargill have expressed interest in returning one day, hoping to steer the series back toward the quality of the original. For now, though, there are no official plans for another sequel.
Derrickson has often said he wanted Sinister to become his version of U2’s Achtung Baby. Rather than trying to outdo other horror movies with louder scares or bigger spectacle, he wanted to reinvent his own approach to the genre. He points to U2’s landmark album as an example of artists refusing to repeat themselves, choosing instead to evolve creatively and produce one of the defining works of their career.
That was Derrickson’s goal with Sinister. He wanted to zig while everyone else was zagging. Looking back, it’s hard to argue he didn’t succeed.
Derrickson has called Sinister one of the most satisfying filmmaking experiences of his career. Working with a small budget and complete creative freedom forced everyone involved to become more inventive, and the finished film helped define what would become the modern Blumhouse formula: low budgets, creative freedom, big scares, massive profits.
Whether Sinister is actually the scariest movie ever made is ultimately up to you. But more than a decade after its release, Bughuul, the Super 8 films, and the movie’s suffocating atmosphere continue to haunt horror fans in a way few modern films have managed. That’s a legacy most horror movies would kill for.
And that, my friends, is What Happened to Sinister.
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