The latest team-up from the ‘Sinister’ duo of filmmaker Scott Derrickson and star Ethan Hawke is a spooky ‘70s-set film about a captured boy battling a child serial killer.
is its own maniacal beast, and it’s defined by The Grabber , a child snatcher and serial killer who, at film’s start, has set this sleepy town on edge. Missing children flyers line the streets, and Gwen’s 13-year-old brother Finney is so unnerved that he barely dares speak this boogeyman’s nickname for fear that he might magically materialize.
Worse, Finney is routinely visited by The Grabber, who wears a two-piece mask marked by pointy horns and a toothy ear-to-ear grin that calls to mind Conrad Veidt in. Exuding the sort of exaggerated cheer that’s the sole province of the insane , it’s a visage of unforgettable evil, and Hawke amplifies its creepiness by employing a tittering voice that’s at once childish, scheming, and cruel.