The first thing you need to know about Oculus is it’s a movie about a haunted mirror. You’re going to need to accept that fact before you even buy a ticket or you may as well just stay home. If you’re anything like me, you’re also going to be saying to yourself, “It’s a movie about a haunted mirror, how good can it really be?” It’s a matter of lowering expectations to just that right level where this film ultimately never really ends up being all that scary, but still manages to hold our interest despite being just a tick too long.
Directed by Mike Flanagan who co-wrote the screenplay with Jeff Howard, the duo has given their 2006 short film, Oculus: Chapter 3 – The Man with the Plan, the feature treatment. The story centers on two siblings, Kaylie (Karen Gillan) and Tim Russell (Brenton Thwaites), who, as children, saw their parents descend into madness, all, presumably, as a result of a mysterious mirror hanging in their father’s office.
Now, eleven years later, the film begins as Tim is getting out of a mental hospital. Greeted by Kaylie, the two now decide to hold to the promise they made years ago to destroy the mirror in the very childhood home the horrors of years past took place.
Kaylie has researched the history of the mirror and the death left in its wake and taken every precaution to ensure they don’t suffer similar fates in their attempts to destroy it. This includes bottled water for hydration, having her fiance call them every hour and a weighted anchor tied to the office ceiling as the final precaution. Problem is, this mirror appears to have a wicked self defense mechanism and nothing seems safe, particularly vegetation and canines.
So, for one whole night, Tim and Kaylie attempt to fight off hallucinations and things that go bump in the night as Flanagan weaves the present day story in with the story of the children’s past. And while I won’t say with any certainty that the film would have been better had it actually only told the family’s original story with the mirror and saved the present story for a possible sequel if the film was successful enough, but for as competently as the two timelines are interwoven, it became a bit tiring as the film wore on.
That said, it’s the origin story that carried the most intrigue. Tim and Kaylie’s father (played by Rory Cochrane) really loses his mind and just what exactly was going on in his office is a mystery I would have rather seen in more explicit detail than what this film ultimately delivers, which is a prequel and a sequel wrapped into one.
The story from the past includes people chained to the wall and gun-wielding children, while the present day story is the grown children dealing with the psychological aftermath of what took place, something that could have been explored even further had the events of the past already been revealed. However, I was quite happy with the way the characters acted, for the most part reacting the way normal humans would react in many of the situations… that is if we had decided a mirror was haunted, destroyed our family and years later we decided to exact revenge on said mirror. But I think you get my point.
As is, this is a notch above most bargain bin horror entries. It’s neither good nor bad, just middling. In truth it’s the editing (also by Flanagan) and execution that stand out, showing Flanagan just might have a promising future in this business. He keeps the audience off-balance until the final reveal, which isn’t exactly surprising, but when you look at the filmmaking necessary to get to that point it’s rather impressive.
For a haunted mirror movie it could have been far more egregious when it comes to cliche jump scares, but for the most part a lot of the things that make you jump are solid, particularly a toothless Katee Sackhoff whose taken to chewing on broken pottery… Yeah, she’s a bit of a mess.
I don’t expect Oculus to be a runaway hit, and it’s probably best if you stay home to watch it, but I’ve seen far worse when it comes to ridiculously plotted PG-13 supernatural thrillers (though this one is rated R) and I believe this one could have been really good had they just stuck to one story. As is, it’s a passing diversion that should mildly satisfy its target audience, but if your eyes are rolling at the thought of a haunted mirror movie, maybe just stay home.
