Since 2009, Oscar-nominated actor Ethan Hawke has sunk his teeth into the horror realm more than ever before. The trend began with the underrated sci-fi vampire tale Daybreakers and continued with the violent, anarchic thriller The Purge four years later. While both movies are worthy of watching, Hawke has elevated his horror movie performances under the direction of Scott Derrickson, with Black Phone 2 being the most recent example.
Yet, before hardcore horror fans pick up Black Phone 2 when it opens in theaters on October 17, 2025, a date with Hawke and Derrickson’s first horror foray together is in order. Fortunately, the genuinely scary Sinister, released in 2012, is available to stream on Hulu. An ideal watch this Halloween ahead of their latest collaboration, Sinister will give horror heads a much greater appreciation for Hawke and Derrickson’s creative relationship.
What Is ‘Sinister’ About?
Directed by Scott Derrickson from a script he co-wrote with C. Robert Cargill, Sinister is an effective blend of period drama, supernatural horror, crime fiction, and murder mystery. The story follows Ellison Oswalt (Hawke), a true-crime writer who has fallen on hard times years after his first book achieved great success. Upon moving to an eerie new abode in Pennsylvania with his wife, Tracy (Juliet Rylance), and children, Ashley (Clare Foley) and Trevor (Michael Hall D’Addario), Oswalt stumbles on a box full of old Super 8 home videotapes in his attic.
Oswalt delves into the box, physically and psychologically, and the more he watches the videotapes, the more detached from his family he becomes. As the disturbing content in the videos becomes clearer, Oswalt realizes that they are homemade snuff movies that directly tie into the accursed home’s past. Believing it to be the subject of his next great book, which can restore his reputational luster, Oswalt begins weighing the benefits of researching the tapes versus the harm they may cause his unwitting family.
Of course, Oswalt’s self-interested decision backfires with baleful brutality. Aside from Hawke’s engrossing performance, Derrickson thickens the enthralling plot by linking the snuff videos to modern-day killings across the country. Not only that, but Oswalt discovers that following each death depicted in the tapes, one person from the victim’s family disappears. Without spoiling the goods, Oswalt traces the killing spree to the occult and an ancient boogeyman that may be targeting his own children.
Stylistically, the Super 8 videotapes allow Derrickson to flex his directorial acumen, mortifying viewers with everything from a pool party drowning in 1966, a fiery car death in 1979, and a gory lawn mower fatality in 1986, replete with period detail and grainy, low-res footage that gives the footage stark realism.
How Scott Derrickson and Ethan Hawke’s Creative Rapport Has Evolved
Despite being just the second horror film in his career, Ethan Hawke gives an unshakable turn in Sinister. As a deeply flawed protagonist, Hawke plays Oswalt with the requisite curiosity of a true-crime journalist, but also as a man desperate to restore his reputation at the cost of his family. He doesn’t quite sell himself to the devil, but there’s a kind of Faustian bargain Oswalt makes that gives him more dimensionality than a straightforward, honest-to-goodness protagonist.
The year after Sinister was released, Hawke played James Sandin in The Purge, a well-meaning protagonist driven to lethal violence when lawless interlopers invade his house and attack his family. With Hawke’s deft ability to toe the line between hero and villain in both Sinister and The Purge, Derrickson saw enough in the actor to cast him as the primary villain in The Black Phone, also co-written by Sinister scribe C. Robert Cargill. It not only proved to be a brilliant decision, but with Black Phone 2, Hawke and Derrickson have taken their creative rapport to the next level of sheer terror.
Based on the short story by Stephen King’s son, Joe Hill, The Black Phone blends stalk-and-kidnap tropes with supernatural elements. Viewers identify with Finney (Mason Thames), a kind young boy from a troubled home in the 1970s. Abducted by a terrifying, masked kidnapper who is dubbed The Grabber, Finney is confined to an abandoned basement and left to his own wits and wiles to survive. Unlikely salvation comes in the form of an old black rotary telephone, which Finney uses to communicate with the spirits of past victims on the other side.
Ethan Hawke Soars to Supernatural Heights in ‘Black Phone 2’
As Ethan Hawke and Scott Derrickson continue to evolve their filmmaking rapport, they continue to push the envelope. Horror and non-horror fans have never seen Hawke perform like he does in Black Phone 2, in which The Grabber transforms from a masked human kidnapper into a full-blown supernatural scourge. Without divulging too much, The Grabber invades the dream realm to haunt victims, recalling the great Robert Englund and his iconic role as Freddy Krueger from the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.
Preparing to play such a character for the first time in his career, Hawke put a lot of thought into his performance. Speaking with USA Today, Hawke pondered:
“What does sin walk like?” What does sin sound like? That was just kind of how I thought about it. It’s almost like playing a gargoyle.”
Hawke also spoke about Robert Englund’s inspiration as Freddy Krueger, adding:
“I thought a lot about Robert Englund. It was hard not to. The body language is so inspiring, how to communicate character through body language.”
It’s fascinating to see Hawke, under Scott Derrickson’s direction, transition from a flawed protagonist in Sinister to a human villain in The Black Phone to a paranormal boogeyman in Black Phone 2. Far from recycling the same old performance time and again, Hawke has embraced his horror genre corpus and delivered one original turn after another. Before fans go out and answer the call to Black Phone 2, genre enthusiasts need to find Sinister and see how far the actor and director have come together over the past 13 years.
Despite being averse to making sequels, Hawke teased fans that there may be more stories left in the Black Phone saga and that he may not be done playing The Grabber. Only time will tell if that comes to fruition. But in the meantime, Black Phone fans who haven’t seen Sinister need to do so, stat.
Sinister is available to stream on Hulu