Before watching the first trailer for Scott Derrickson’s new horror movie Sinister, I was feeling a little bit cynical about it. The title seemed pretty similar to James Wan’s Insidious and the poster looked like every other horror movie poster we’ve seen over past couple of years. The plot synopsis also sounded generic and familiar, and on top of that, I was not a big fan of Scott Derrickson’s remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. Still, after putting all that aside, I have to admit that this trailer has some genuinely creepy imagery in it.

Ethan Hawke plays a true crime writer who moves his family into a house where several murders happened nine months earlier. He finds some old home videos of the family who lived there before and notices a recurring symbol and face in the videos that slowly begin to take over his life. (It may or may not be a demon that eats the souls of children.) The movie is written by C. Robert Cargill (aka Massawyrm), who joins Drew McWeeny in becoming another long-time Ain’t It Cool News contributor turned screenwriter. I can’t say for sure, but it looks like Paranormal Activity 4 might have some decent competition in theatres this Halloween. Sinister hits theatres on October 5th; check out the trailer after the jump and see what you think.