The evil mirror thriller “Oculus” (which actually bears little resemblance to the 2008 thriller "Mirrors") attempts to do something
that many modern horror films never really do. It tells two stories at the same
time while using the classic cinema narrative trick known as “cross-cutting.”
Sure this isn’t exactly “The Godfather Part II” but I admire the film’s
attempts to take a stale premise “haunted object causes chaos for suburban
family” and at least try to do something a little different. Even if the results
aren’t particularly amazing, I give the film extra points for its creepiness
and disturbing elements.
“Oculus,” which is Latin for “eye” in case you were
wondering, like I said, tells two stories. It tells the story of two twenty something
siblings: 23-year-old Kaylie (Karen Gillan) and her 21-year-old brother Tim
(Brenton Twaites, who’s about to become a big deal I’m sure). Tim has just been
released from a mental hospital. Kaylie works for an auction house and joins
forces with her reluctant brother to vanish some sort of malevolent spirit from
an antique mirror. The parallel story revolves around these siblings’ past in
which their parents succumb to the mirror’s evil and manipulative forces and
the tragedy that eventually befalls them.
First of all, both stories are completely watchable and
entertaining. I liked how, as young adults, you don’t quite know all the pieces
of Kaylie and Tim’s past. You know Tim did something bad that was the cause of
his incarceration, but you don’t know what exactly drove him to commit the
crime. And as ridiculous and silly as it
is Kaylie’s “plan” to “exorcise” the mirror is as well-thought out as it is unnecessary.
The mirror has been bought by some rich art collector and she “borrows” it for
a few day – best to leave it alone if you ask me. She even includes a tight rundown of the mirror’s
evil history for the benefit of the audience and whoever finds the video that
she plans on recording of the exorcism.
The film’s truly
disturbing sequences involve the pair’s younger selves (played as kids by
Annalise Basso and Garrett Ryan) as they settle into their new home with their
parents Marie (Katee Sackhoff) and Alan (Rory Cochran). Something doesn’t seem
quite right, as tends to happen in movies like this. Dad and mom keep arguing
as there’s something about perhaps “another woman.”Although she isn’t exactly
your normal home wrecker. I like how these flashback sequences are really told
through the point-of-view of the kids which makes it all the more frightening.
The film, in a way, borrows heavily from “The Amityville Horror” in that the
father begins to go mad and something, specifically in this mirror, is making
him go mad. And the performances here are solid and convincing.
Director Mike Flangan, who co-wrote the film with Jeff
Howard, based it on a short film he had previously directed. They keep things a fairly swift pace, but take
time in revealing the horror of the situation. Flangan, who also served as the
film’s editor, expertly pieces these two concurrent stories together pretty
interesting ways, as if they were happening at the same time. This is another
solid entry in the Jason Blum-produced (Indisious, Paranormal Activity, The
Purge) line of modern horror films that harkens back to a time when horror
films not only felt original, but were at least scary enough to recommend the
film to others. “Oculus” won’t really stay with you or haunt your dreams, but
the almost “Nightmare on Elm Street” is-this-reality-or-not scenarios are a
truly something worth watching for any horror fan. GRADE: B
