One of the stand-out movies from FrightFest 2012 was the paranormal, found footage shocker Sinister. This twisted and unforgettable piece of horror cinema is a superb piece of horror cinema and comes from the pens of C. Robert Cargill and Scott Derrickson. We recently chatted to Cargill about Sinister and what plans he has for the future.

HC: Have you always been a big fan of the horror genre?

CC: Ever since I was young, yeah. My wife and I often spend our weekends nestled in bed, sifting through Netflix looking for horror films one or both of us have never seen.

HC: Are there any writers that you admire?

CC: Many. In horror alone I could name King, Keene, Lovecraft, Lansdale, Carpenter, del Toro. I'm especially loving a lot of the new guys like Simon Rumley and Lucky McKee, these young turks are churning out really disturbing stuff.

HC: Is it true that Sinister is your first feature?

CC: It is. I was a film critic for a decade before this.

HC: How did the project for Sinister come together?

CC: I had a terrible dream after seeing The Ring. I was climbing into my attic when I saw a box with Super 8 films and a projector in it. I spooled up the first film and it was the opening image of Sinister. That nightmare stuck with me for a while and eventually I realized it might make a for a pretty good horror movie. Scott Derrickson and I were friends for a long time before Sinister. He was a reader of mine who began writing me letters after I had turned him onto some particularly great films that other critics had written off. A friendship slowly evolved and we happened into one another while both on vacation in Vegas. We had several drinks, got to talking and I pitched him Sinister. He immediately wanted to make it and a week and a half later we were in Jason Blum's office pitching to him and Brian Kavanagh Jones. They loved it and wanted to move forward quickly.

HC: It's a smart take on the found footage genre, are you a fan of those kind of movies?

CC: Yeah. I think it gets a bad rap because too many writers/directors see it as an excuse to be lazy in their storytelling, but there are a number of folks making some genuinely wonderful stuff - and now that it has evolved from being a gimmick to being a legitimate subgenre, I think we'll see a lot more interesting investigations of it.

HC: You must be happy at the way the movie has been hailed by many as being the horror movie of the year?

CC: Heh. We'll see about that. But I certainly love the folks who feel that way. It's always great to connect with someone else through your ideas and work.

HC: Would you like to revisit the idea for a possible sequel?

CC: Perhaps. I'm thinking there might be another good story or two left in Bughuul.

HC: What do you think will be the next big thing in horror?

CC: Stories about finding found footage. There's a lot of gold yet to be mined from that kind of story still.

HC: So what other projects do you have lined up?

HC: We’ve got a few things in the pipe, but nothing I can talk about. I do have a novel coming out in February titled Dreams And Shadows. You can get that in the UK from the awesome folks over at Gollancz.

HC: C. Robert Cargill, thank you very much.