Oculus (2013)
Certified: 15
Duration: 103 minutes
Directed: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Karen Gillan, Annalise Basso, Brenton Thwaites, Garrett Ryan, Rory Cochrane, Katee Sackhoff, James Lafferty, Miguel Sandoval
KRS Releasing Ltd
Tim Russell (Brenton Thwaites), who is about to turn 21, leaves the mental hospital where he has spent more than 10 years. His sister Kaylie (Karen Gillan), who is two years older than him and works in an art auction house, picks him up.
She wants him to live with her and her fiancé Michael (James Lafferty) but he prefers to stay in a hotel. Eleven years before, a series of events had left their parents, Marie (Katee Sackhoff) and Alan (Rory Cochrane), dead.
When still children, Tim had made a promise to Kaylie and she is going to hold him on it.
This revolves around a mirror that is more than 400 years old which she believes to be a supernatural artefact.
He had hoped that the treatment he received will help him move on from the past and believes his sister is not seeing things straight. But she has filled their parents’ home with hi-tech equipment in order to prove that her father was right and thus record proof of the theories and supernatural events.
The story proceeds with flashbacks of what had happened years before when young Tim and Kaylie (Garrett Ryan and Annalise Basso) had no idea how life will change when this old mirror made its way into their home. Now the two siblings must deal with the supernatural phenomenon that comes back to haunt them.
Oculus is based on the short film Oculus Chapter 3: The Man With the Plan by Mike Flanagan. The same director made this film on a low budget of $5 million and has up till now cashed back an approximate $35 million, making it quite a success story. It could also mark the start of a franchise.
Oculus is a clever and entertaining film that more than keeps its audience on its toes. It is mysterious and ominous, designed to take away one’s breath and will have one itching to be able to rewind the celluloid tape to recheck what he has seen or thought he has seen.
Oculus is a clever and entertaining film that more than keeps its audience on its toes
Moving in the modern vein of horror that has been delivered with Insidious (2010) Oculus is about a mirror which here is a physical manifestation of evil. The film takes its time to kick off as the director seems to keep the reins pulled tight and leaves proceedings moving as an ordinary drama.
However, when the ghost-hunting stuff enters into the equation and brother and sister are not in agreement, the audience will find themselves immersed into the proceedings and trying to figure out what the truth is.
Flanagan does not leave out the scares and when he delivers them, the effect is eerie and haunting.
Highlight scenes include the one where Gillan attacks a ghost woman only to find that the truth is something else. Another one, involving Gillan eating an apple which turns out to be something else, is shockingly jarring and will have horror fans breathing for air.
Well acted, paced and structured, Oculus benefits tremendously from ominous cinematography by Michael Fimognari.
Everything is illusion and mirrors and Flanagan directs the film as if he were a magician playing tricks on us.