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Review:  ‘Sinister 2’ can’t quite capture the original’s menace

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The horror sequel “Sinister 2” revisits the concept of a family-slaughtering demon with a hold over children and a penchant for grainy films of the killings. But now that we know the story’s grim logic, the first film’s quietly haunted uncertainties — and Ethan Hawke’s sturdy portrayal of a selfish, befuddled true crime writer wracked by grisly voyeurism — are sorely missed.

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This time, the doomed house is in rural Illinois, and the family in peril is a mother (Shannyn Sossamon) and two boys (real-life brothers Robert and Dartanian Sloan), one of whom is actively recruited by dark spirit Bughuul’s ghost children to join their homicidal gang. This behind-the-curtain tale of supernatural peer pressure is a pretty weak replacement for the original’s simple, mysterious riff on “The Shining.” It might be why returning screenwriters Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill also gave Sossamon’s character a thinly manipulative story line involving an abusive husband (Lea Coco), and brought back the first film’s sensitive deputy (James Ransone) for mythology exposition duties and predictable heroism.

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With such busy plotting, all director Ciarán Foy can do is juggle points of view and hope this version’s 16-mm murder footage (including death by crocodile) meets fans’ expectations for snuff-flick eeriness. They’re suitably icky, sure, but nothing about “Sinister 2” comes close to the feel-bad ode to literally and figuratively dark interiors that distinguished the title-earning original.

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“Sinister 2”

MPAA rating: R for bloody violence, bloody and disturbing images, language.

Running time: 1 hour, 37 minutes.

Playing: In general release.

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