What Sinister's Bughuul Looks Like In Real Life

Some might try to argue that the true villain of "Sinister" is Ethan Hawke's Ellison Oswalt, but let's be real: Bughuul is a thing of nightmares. One of the most chilling sequences in the film is when Ellison watches home movies depicting brutal murders carried out in the name of Bughuul, with the deity's visage being seen in the pool. There's definitely a case to be argued for calling "Sinister" the scariest movie ever made, but the man behind the film's monster is a far less menacing sight.

Nicholas King plays Bughuul in both "Sinister" and "Sinister 2." When it came to getting cast in the role, he explained that he simply looked the part. In an interview with Love Horror, King said that both he and his brother tried out for the character, but he came out on top. "They were looking for a tall slender looking guy and my brothers on the bigger side and I was just what they wanted. I don't have any lines or anything so they were looking for a certain body type and I happened to be it."

King doesn't have too many other acting credits to his name, so there aren't many places where audiences might have seen him before. He's listed as a "Skater Wannabe" in "Max Keeble's Big Move," and he had a role as a watchman in the 2021 horror movie "Caged." But he primarily works in another capacity within the entertainment industry.

Nicholas King has spent a good portion of his time on film sets, working stunts. Some of his credits working in that department include "The Green Hornet," "Paranormal Activity 3," and "The Babymakers." In a conversation with Killer Kalyn about his background in stunts, he mentioned that his father worked in the field for decades and that he got his own start at a very young age. "I did my first stunt job when I was eight years old, and that was what I wanted to do. And then when I graduated high school, I went to trade school for power lines and graduated and they went on a hiring freeze, so then I started doing stunts again and I haven't looked back."

King has performed some impressive stunts, too. In the same interview, he talks about being inside a house when it was blown up while shooting "The Green Hornet." Fortunately, he emerged relatively unscathed. But there was one scene playing Bughuul in "Sinister" that proved to be just as arduous.

Looper's sister site, /Film, spoke with King about his role, including how he had to stay underwater for three hours to get the one shot of Bughuul in the pool. "They fed a breathing hose into the pool for me to stay underwater," he explained. "Just before filming they would take it out and we stuffed a little one gallon in my sleeve so I could take a few last breaths before the shot started."

King's resume may not be long, but he's a consummate professional. And as Bughuul, he's earned a permanent place in the pantheon of horror villains who scare the hell out of audiences.