How Many Sinister Movies Are There?

The 2012’s supernatural horror hit Sinister follows writer Ellison Oswalt after he moves into a house that’s actually the site of a gruesome murder years before. And, as it turns out, the murder was far from a random act of horror—more sinister forces were at work.

While horror films don’t traditionally score well with critics, Sinister represented a nice change of pace, with both critics and fans coming to some level of agreement—it was good, and it was scary. Other successful horror movies have spun off sequel after sequel, so how many Sinisters are out there?

How many Sinister films are there?

Well, not a lot. There are currently only two Sinister films that have been aired. The first in 2012 and then a sequel in 2015.

While the initial entry into the franchise was met with praise, its later sequel was quite the opposite—viewers complained about its reliance on jump scares and shock value rather than the tight, thrilling narrative that was at the core of the first film.

As of now, it seems the Blumhouse is all but done with the Sinister franchise, choosing to focus on their other more successful horror series but there was a time when a third entry was being prepared.

President of Blumhouse, Jason Blum shared in 2018 that he had been working on a film that would cross Sinister over into the universe on the company’s other hugely successful franchise, Insidious. But the idea had since been tabled.

While Sinister has been all but forgotten, Insidious has remained consistent with introducing new films and stories into the series most recently in 2018’s Insidious: The Last Key. It was announced late in 2020 that work had begun on a sequel for the series and with Blum teasing that they will cross these two properties over at some point, there is a chance that this upcoming movie could see the return of Sinister’s notorious villain Bughuul.

The days of a standalone sequel for Sinister look to be over and those fans eagerly awaiting more will have to wait and hope for Insidious to make the crossover happen.