In 2012 true crime novelist Ellison Oswalt doomed his family by moving them into a house where a horrifying incident had occurred involving the previous residents. While he was investigating the circumstances, hoping that his research would lead way to a new book, both he and his loved ones fell prey to the powers of Bughuul, a mythical monster that has been viciously decimating families for centuries, all without ever lifting a finger. Instead of killing people himself, Bughuul enlists the aid of children, luring them into his dark world and manipulating their impressionable minds into murdering their own families, and joining him and the rest of his ghost children on the other side. Bughuul, known to the kids as “Mr. Boogie”, may have staked his claim on the Oswalt family, but a certain deputy that Ellison called on for help may be the one who can finally put an end to this sinister creature’s ruthless reign.

Fast forward to 2015 and Deputy so-and-so has a new family to save: the Collins. Courtney Collins has taken her two boys to the country and away from her abusive husband, Clint, where they can hopefully hide out in this tiny, rural Illinois town until all of the legal procedures are worked out, and she can truly escape him. What she doesn’t know is, her and her boys, Zach and Dylan, have just moved into one of Bughuul’s hot spots, and have thereby inserted themselves into his deadly chain of events. The deputy, thinking that this old house is abandoned, makes his way out to the property to burn it to the ground in hopes of ridding the world of this demon once and for all. However, once he arrives on the scene, he realizes that to push this family out of their new home would only put the events in motion, by making the family members targets for both Bughuul, and for Clint. Now, the deputy, Courtney, and the boys, must band together to fight off the powers of darkness, and break the chains, before the violence that these two entities carry with them devours the Collins family whole.

Like its predecessor, this film works on two levels: the threat of the supernatural and the troubles of reality. Just as Sinister found its roots in reality by showing Ellison struggle with the choice that so many people face between work and family, Sinister 2 finds its humanity in the circle of violence that comes with a broken household. While the idea of an ancient spirit coming into people’s homes by way of 16 mm cameras and tricking children into murdering their families may seem too outlandish to have any basis in reality, the terror that comes with fearing your own father is a real issue that many families unfortunately face, and only makes the Collins appear that much more sympathetic when they have to deal with Bughuul’s evil presence on top of all of their daily problems.

With Clint currently out of the picture, as Courtney tries her hardest to keep her husband away from the boys, Bughuul seizes the perfect opportunity to make Zach and Dylan part of his own little family. Watching over him like a deranged surrogate father, Mr. Boogie guides Dylan down the path of the criminally insane, as his ghost children encourage him to watch the home movies they have made. Each one is worse than the last; little snuff films directed by pre-pubescent murderers projected nightly in the basement with the intention of slowly driving Dylan mad. His father is on the hunt for custody, while Bughuul eerily creeps in the corners, two boogeymen both out to claim a boy too young and fragile to defend himself against such powerful predators.

To really drive the parental parallels between the man and monster home, Sinister 2 would have greatly benefitted from focusing more on Bughuul and less on his undead minion children. The first film gave the impression that it was Bughuul himself who coerced and manipulated the kids of each family he came across, taking them under his wing and making them think that they wanted to kill their loved ones and join Mr. Boogie in the darkness. Even Sinister 2 goes on to explain in a certain scene how in each of the examples of the boogeyman, the child was required to give a sacrifice to him, relating the recent murders in the film to the old folklore. It’s strange how the filmmakers seem to realize that Bughuul is the star of the franchise, and yet, they choose to highlight the ghost kids.

Perhaps it would have been more effective watching the ghost kids try to persuade Dylan to join them if they hadn’t been so upfront about their evil plans. Each kid hands Dylan their reels of film, telling him with devious eyes and smoky voices that they made that one in particular, and he has to watch all of them to finish the process and make his recurring night terrors stop. After all, these kids were innocent patrons themselves before Bughuul entered their lives and convinced them to commit acts of murder. To bring Dylan to their side, and just to act more like young people, it would have made more sense to hear each of them talk about their families and relate stories of how their lives were unfair, and what drove them to engage in such horrifying acts in the first place, something that he would have found very easy to identify with as a child of abuse. Either way, the ghost kids just seem to make everything that’s about to happen that much more obvious.

Such as is the problem with any sleeper hit, the sequel to the surprisingly disturbing original Sinister movie is bound to be faced with some harsh judgment from critics and fans alike. While Sinister 2 doesn’t quite reach the high bar that the first film set, mostly due to the failure to capitalize on the parallels between the guardians, the straightforward, excessive dialogue of the ghost kids, and honestly, the lack of believability in the snuff films that made the first so unnerving, it does serve up some real intensity with its hard R rating and merciless use of kid killers. This entry may not keep you up at night, but it will certainly make you jump in the theater.