Inside Man

This bank robbery plays out a little different than is to be expected. A group of would be robbers, dressed in black coveralls, hoods up, face hidden by white cloth and sunglasses, walk into a bank in Manhattan and take everybody (twenty? thirty?) inside hostage. They have everyone strip to their underwear and put on the same outfits they themselves are wearing with black eye masks instead of sunglasses.

The hostages are kept in small groups in different rooms with random people being moved at times from one room to the next, the person joining a group may even be one of the robbers. Very clever, that.

The head of the outfit is one Dalton Russell, who pulls the strings and communicates with law enforcement outside. The police detective designated to save the day is Det. Keith Frazier, whose job is complicated by the arrival of Madeleine White. Ms. White's request are to be met. So says the mayor. She has been hired by the founder of the bank, Arthur Case, to make sure that whatever is in safe deposit box 392 (a box that mysteriously is not listed with the other boxes) is either retrieved or never sees the light of day - whatever the cost.

So both, Frazier and White meet with Russell to discuss terms. Frazier realizes eventually that the robbers are playing for time and not easily fooled by things like bugs hidden in pizza boxes. White learns that Russell has already taken the contents of Case's box - proof that Case made some questionable deals with Nazi Germany while living in Switzerland along with a ring and a stash of diamonds. The diamonds are what the robbers are interested in, not touching and of the money or other valuables inside the bank.

The reason they are playing for time is because they build a cell behind a row of shelves in the supply room. When the police get ready to storm the place, the robbers are one step ahead of them - having sent their own bug into their mobile HQ. The preemptively throw smoke bombs and mix themselves among the hostages, making it impossible for police to prove who was on what side.

What is more, as nothing has been taken and nobody has been injured, the case gets shelved. No harm, no foul, right? Frazier, of course, cannot let got and returns to the bank, where Russell bumps into him. Russell has spent the last few weeks hidden in the cell they have built and now walks out with the diamonds. Frazier is there to execute a court order to open box 392, which has been emptied except for the ring and a note telling him to "follow the ring", which he does - dropping in on the mayor having lunch with White, handing them the number of the Office of War Crime Issues. At home he realizes, that the man he pumped into him dropped a single diamond into his pocket.

Quite interesting and very well cast.

7/10

Sinister

A true-crime writer, who apparently gets a kick (or "inspiration") out of moving into homes where crimes have been committed, tries to reignate his faded flame of stardom by writing this one book that will change everything.

For that purpose he moves his family into nice suburban house. Of course, this home is no different, never mind what he tells his wife. Right at the beginning of the film, we see a super 8 film of a family 'hanging around'. In this case, this translates to a group hanging of every family member but one - a little girl disappears and is never heard of again.

Soon, our writer finds a box in the attic holding a number of home movies from different decades and shot in far apart locations. What they all have in common is that on each we see a family murdered. The manner changes but from each family one child goes missing.

The connection? Bughuul. That is some sort of demon, only few drawings of it remain. Along with the videos, the writer finds drawings of the different crimes, seemingly done by children and naming all the victims and putting an extra figure next to the dead bodies, called 'Mr. Boogie'.

What connnects the victim's families is that each has lived in a house that was once occupied by one of the other families. So, when the writer finds that out, it is already too late for him and his loved ones, even though he did get the hell out of Dodge when weird occurences and sounds in the new house had spooked him out enough.

They die by the hand of their young daughter. After she is done, she is picked up by Mr. Boogie and carried into another super 8 film.

In normal films this would all be weird but in horror films this sort of works. It would have been great except for one thing that bugged me throughout - they never turn on the lights. They even have dinner in the near dark. While this may add some suspense to the viewing experience if you stop and think about it it is just plain stupid.

6/10