A true-crime writer finds a cache of 8mm ‘snuff’ films that suggest the murder he is currently researching is the work of a serial killer whose career dates back to the 1960s.

Ethan Hawke excels as a booze-dependent, best-selling author in one the best horror films to emerge from the Blumhouse stable. A nerve-shredding, analogue nightmare whose terrors emerge from a discarded box of celluloid home movies, Sinister needs just two things: lights out, volume up.