Sinister (2012)

Found footage helps a true-crime novelist realize how and why a family was murdered in his new home, though his discoveries put his entire family in the path of a supernatural entity. 

Director: Scott Derrickson

Writers: Scott Derrickson (screenplay), C. Robert Cargill

Stars: Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance and James Ransone 

Cast:

• Ethan Hawke as Ellison Oswalt
• Juliet Rylance as Tracy Oswalt
• Clare Foley as Ashley Oswalt
• Michael Hall D'Addario as Trevor Oswalt
• Fred Thompson as Sheriff
• James Ransone as Deputy
• Vincent D'Onofrio as Professor Jonas

Production:

Shooting for Sinister began in fall of 2011, with Ethan Hawke and Juliet Rylance signing on to star in the film

Plot:

The film opens on Super 8 footage where a family of four are standing under a tree with bags over their heads and nooses around their necks. An unseen figure saws a tree limb acting as a counterweight with a rake, and cuts it off, sending the family up, strangling them.
Months later, true-crime novelist Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) moves into the same house as the murdered family with his wife, Tracy (Juliet Rylance), and their two children Ashley (Clare Foley) and Trevor (Michael Hall D'Addario). Ellison uses the murders as the basis for his new book. Supposedly, there were five members in the family, and one of the children went missing after the murders.
Ellison finds a box in the attic, which contains a projector and several reels of Super 8 footage that are each labeled as if innocent home movies. He watches the films, all depicting families murdered in various ways, including having their throats slit in bed (Sleepy Time), an arson (BBQ), being drowned in their pool (Pool Party), being run over by a lawn mower (Lawn Work) and the hanging that opened the movie (Hanging Out). The drowning one proves especially disturbing for him, as he sees a dark figure with a demonic face. Upon seeing this figure, strange things begin happening around the house. Ellison continues to observe the films, and discovers strange things in them, such as a strange symbol painted near the murders, and the demonic figure, which begins to show up in every film.
He calls a deputy (James Ransone) to help him find the location of these murders. After going through the images, the deputy refers him to a religion college professor, Jonas (Vincent D'Onofrio), to decipher the symbol in the films. Jonas tells Ellison that the symbol is that of a Pagan deity named Bughuul, who was known as an eater of children's souls, killing the families of the child and then taking the child to his own netherworld. One night, Ellison hears the film projector running and goes up to the attic. He finds five children (all of whom were the missing from each family after they were murdered) watching one of the films. When Bughuul suddenly appears in front of him, Ellison falls from the attic. Having had enough, he burns the projector and the film and moves out with his family. Upon returning to their old house, he goes into the attic and finds the box containing the projector and film, completely unharmed. However, there is a new item inside: an envelope with "extended endings." Within that, Ellison finds that after each murder took place, the missing child would come onscreen, revealing them to be the murderers, and then disappear.
Ellison again chats with Professor Jonas, who sends him scans of rare historical drawings of the mysterious symbol and explains that Bughuul would supposedly appear in the images, which acted as portals between his realm and the mortal realm.
Shortly after, the deputy, whose repeated calls Ellison had been ignoring all day, calls again and this time Ellison picks up. The deputy informs him that he has discovered the link between the murders: each family had last lived in the house where the previous murder had taken place. By moving out of the house, the deputy continues, he has put himself and his family in place to continue the pattern. Ellison begins feeling light-headed. He looks in his empty coffee cup and finds a mysterious liquid left behind, then notices the note that was under his cup from his daughter and loses consciousness.
Upon waking, he finds himself, his wife and son bound and gagged. Ashley walks in, carrying an axe and a Super 8 camera. She then documents the grisly murders of her father, mother, and brother, and paints the walls in their blood, with several childish images such as unicorns, cats and dogs . She then goes to the projector and plays the film she just took, revealing the children in the hallway. Upon Bughuul's appearance, the children run away. Bughuul picks up Ashley and walks into the film with her.
The final shot shows the box of film in the attic of the Oswalt house, this time with a new canister that reads "House painting '12".