Sinister

The film opens with a disturbing home movie: a family is bound, hooded, and hung in a cornfield before being set aflame. This image haunts 9-year-old Dylan Collins and becomes a recurring nightmare. He hides with his twin brother Zach and their mother Courtney in a rural farmhouse beside a deconsecrated church, as they run from Courtney's abusive husband Clint.

Each night, ghostly children visit Dylan and force him to watch more 'home movies' of families murdered in brutal ways. The scenes range from a family nailed to the floor and left to bleed to a decapitation by alligators, establishing a chilling tour of orchestrated endings. The children seem to orchestrate these events for no clear reason, extending their influence over Dylan.

A former sheriff’s deputy, now a private investigator known simply as So-and-So, arrives to track the killings tied to Bughuul and to break the cycle by burning down the houses. He reaches the Collins’ farmhouse and confronts Clint, who intends to take the boys. The Deputy insists a court order is required, and Clint leaves; he also convinces Courtney to stay to protect the boys.

The Deputy consults Prof. Stromberg, who uncovers a ham radio belonging to the missing Jonas and a trail of murders spanning decades. The radio reveals artifacts from a Norwegian family in 1973, including a daughter's screaming and a piano tone that underscores the occult history. Stromberg explains that Bughuul is reached through ritual sacrifice and the consumption of innocent fear, with three telltale patterns in each tragedy: a murdered family, missing children, and an offering of art to summon the demon. The Deputy orders Stromberg to destroy the radio, though the damage lingers.

Dylan’s connection to the ghostly children deepens when they show him a new video depicting the church murders, titled Sunday Service. Dylan becomes frightened and refuses to watch further, while the children declare that Dylan is not their target and redirect their focus to Zach. The mounting threat inside the farmhouse escalates as the haunting tightens its grip on the family.

Clint returns with the court order to claim the boys, and Courtney joins him to protect them. The Deputy heads to Clint’s home to warn them, but Clint assaults him, insisting he leave. The Deputy remains determined to protect the family and keep them from fleeing.

The next day, Zach films his family during an outdoor hangout, but that night Dylan, Courtney, and Clint are drugged and bound to scarecrow posts with sacks over their heads in a cornfield near Clint’s house. The scene echoes Dylan’s earlier nightmares and deepens the danger surrounding the Collins family.

Possessed Zach douses his family with three trails of gasoline, sets Clint on fire, and films the moment of his death. The Deputy arrives just as the flames threaten Dylan, ramming Zach with his car and freeing Courtney and Dylan to stumble into the cornfield’s darkness. The brutal act underscores the high stakes of stopping Bughuul.

Inside the house, the ghost children attempt to guide Zach toward their malevolent goal, but the Deputy’s timely intervention disrupts the pattern by destroying the camera that records the scene. Bughuul materializes as punishment for Zach’s failure, and Zach’s body rapidly decomposes as a cloth projection screen bursts into flames, sealing the house in fire. The Deputy, Courtney, and Dylan escape the blaze.

In the motel room after the escape, the Deputy discovers a ham radio waiting for him, implying Bughuul’s reach persists beyond the Collinses. The ghost children reach out to him through the device, their voices echoing back and forth, and Bughuul finally materializes, signaling that the nightmare is far from over.