What is the history of the Bughuul demon in “Sinister” and “Sinister 2”?
Quick Answer: Bughuul is not a deity taken from any real-world belief system. He is, however, provided with a backstory that makes him the brother of Moloch, a pagan deity practiced or worshipped by Canaanites, Phoenicians, and related cultures in North Africa and the Levant.
The gruesome events of the 2012 horror film Sinister, and its sequel Sinister 2 (2015) are stated to be the work of an angry pagan deity, Bughuul, the “devourer of children.” With origins dating back to Babylonian times, Bughuul (or Bagul) commands the minds and souls of the young and forces them to murder their families, recording the incidents and preserving the spirit of the murders to recruit other children. Their souls and bodies are taken, prompting a series of connected incidents no one has managed to uncover. This history is explained in-film by Professor Jonas (Vincent D’Onofrio) to true crime writer Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke), saying, “the fragments of stories that have survived, they all revolve around him needing the souls of human children to survive. Each story involves a different way that he lures or tricks these children away from the physical world and traps them in his own nether world and he consumes their souls over time. Any worship of this deity would include a blood sacrifice or the wholesale eating of a child.”
Such an explanation raises the question - is Bughuul a real Babylonian pagan deity? For those hoping to switch to the church of suit-wearing, mouthless consumer of souls, unfortunately, Bughuul is a construct of Sinister screenwriters Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill.
Fictitious as he may be, Bughuul does share qualities with many real-world deities people have believed in. He shares similarities with Moloch, a pagan deity venerated by Canaanites and Ammonites. Moloch is Middle Eastern in descent, thrives on child sacrifice by burning, and possesses demonic attributes. The Sinister Facebook page even dubbed Bughuul the “brother of Moloch,” saying the two share a back story. It states, “Bughuul mimicked Moloch’s worship and child sacrifice rituals before Moloch furiously shut Bughuul’s mouth with ash for all eternity.” A promotional picture shows relatively the same text, expanding on Bughuul’s betrayal of his brother and his brother’s retaliation.
Sinister promotional picture
Connections can also be made to Baal and Tlaloc, two other pagan deities. Baal is a Christian/Judaic demon and Tlaloc, a benevolent fertility god in Aztec mythology, required the sacrifice of children in return for good crop growth.
It’s not uncommon for horror villains to draw from real-world inspiration. Whether or not Bughuul’s similarities with existing pagan deities was intentional or not, their connections are undeniable. Either way, Bughuul fits the films as a powerful and terrifying figure.