'Sinister' & 'The Possession' continues haunted item, scary kid genre

If recent horror movies should have taught you anything, it's that A) kids are creepy (especially little girls), B) you should not buy any old items from yard sales or explore objects found in attics/basements/crawlspaces because C) demons love to haunt those items and make personal connections with aforementioned creepy kids in the process.

Case in point, Sinister and The Possession, two upcoming films that play with all of those tropes...

Starring Ethan Hawke and directed by Scott Derrickson (who wrote The Exorcism of Emily Rose), Sinister follows true-crime novelist Ellison (Hawke) as he researches the story behind a home movies found in his new home, which had previously belonged to a family who was murdered. Based on the trailer, Ellison may have stumbled onto a pagan demon who lives within images - such as in found-footage movies - and inhabits children by entering through them. Sinister debuted at South By Southwest last March to largely positive reviews, and will open wide on Oct. 5.


Meanwhile, The Possession stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgwick as parents whose daughter has picked up a mysterious box at a yard sale with Hebrew writing on it. After she opens it up and starts acting bonkers, they learn they've unleashed a dybbuk - a demon from Jewish folklore (previously seen in The Unborn) - who likes to eat the souls of kids. The movie is produced by Sam Raimi's Ghost House Pictures and "based on a true story" covered in Leslie Gornstein's 2004 Los Angeles Times article about the (in)famous "Dibbuk Box" sold on eBay. The Possession will be released on Aug. 31 - Aaron Sagers