When Sinster creeped its way to theaters in 2012, it introduced the world to the horrifying entity Bughuul – or Mr. Boogie, if you’re not into the whole brevity thing. And when Sinister 2 comes out in a few weeks, we’ll get to know the ghastly being a little better. But, assuming he doesn’t get banished into the ethers forevermore at the end of that flick, will we get to see him terrorizing more people in a third Sinister film? According to the current creative team, the answer is possibly, but not that likely.
For a set visit during the production of Sinister 2, screenwriter Scott Derrickson (who directed the first film) and the sequel’s helmer Ciraran Foy joined cast members Shannyn Sossamon and James Ransone for a roundtable interview with me and other journalists, and someone broached the subject of whether or not Derrickson envisioned this franchise as a trilogy. Here’s how he put it.
Sure, yeah, I’d like there to be ten of them, but it really depends on how this turns out and how it does. The reason the script took so long was because both [co-screenwriter C.Robert] Cargill and I have seen so many horror franchises – you know, we’re really familiar with how they tend to work and what the bad tendencies are. And so we were both really committed to writing the kind of horror sequel we would like to see, and that proved to be a lot more difficult than I think either of us were expecting.
It says something about Derrickson’s dedication to the project that he and Cargill stayed on as screenwriters, while handpicking Citadel director Foy to handle the sequel. And if he thinks that the story being told has been exhausted, or that it doesn’t make sense to stick with Bughuul for another round of Super 8-recorded family murders, then I’m behind that idea. Sure, it would be nice if there were a dozen ways for this plotline to splinter off, but there probably aren’t, and it would be disappointing to see a third film get made just to tread back through territory we’ve already seen. Even if it means seeing more of Deputy So and So.
This train of thought continued in Derrickson’s explanation.
It just felt like if we were going to do it, we had to hold ourselves up to that standard, and the trick of it was finding a different point of view to get into it, because the horror sequels that I have really liked tend to expand the mythology but also deepen your appreciation of the original in unique ways that give you some elements that you loved from the first one but they also surprise you.
Derrickson is currently working on Dr. Strange for Marvel, and we all know that company likes to build strong relationships with some of their filmmakers, so it’s entirely possible that Derrickson won’t have time to work on another Sinister flick until Marvel’s Phase 5 or something. Of course, it’s not out of the question to think that Blumhouse and the other production companies could just bring in a new writer and director to keep things going if Derrickson proves too busy. As for whether that would be a good or a bad thing, we just can’t say at the moment.
Sinister 2 will hit theaters on Friday, August 21. Watch it, tell your friends to watch it, and maybe we’ll get more of it in the future.
