SUNDAY REVIEW OF THE HORROR SEQUEL SINISTER 2

2015 rating: *1/2

Right off the bat we learn that THE EXORCIST is fiction when a priest tells our clumsy ex-cop hero... continuing what Ethan Hawke investigated in the original... that a more realistic clergyman doesn't go around saying: "The power of Christ compels you."

But the opening imagery suggests more CHILDREN OF THE CORN as our setting is a rural one, with a cornfield. Too bad the lead wraith (resembling a Gothic clown if hybrid with a demented jaguar) is so over the top that he's more banal than scary. 

While some modern horror sequels may or may not keep a few of the same characters while venturing into a brand new realm (like the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY franchise), the second SINISTER relies too much on the audience completely remembering the original. 

This story involves two young brothers, a handful of ghost kids and a put-upon mother just begging for the kind of punishment that never really happens except a few quick jolts with an overall plot reminiscent of Stephen King's THE SHINING: a murderous task given by the dead to the living, to turn the living into the dead. But the errand and execution simply doesn't pay off... ever.