Review of Oculus (2014) by Ian H — 09 Nov 2014

I don't watch horror movies. Not because they're scary. I love being scared watching horror movies as much as I don't want to admit it. That's the point of watching horror movies. I don't watch horror movies because most horror movies today are cliched and predictable to watch. However, this movie is such a refreshing horror movie.

I love how this movie does not rely on jump scares or loud music to make the movie scary. Thank goodness!

I love how the plot of this movie is based on character development. The character development made me care about the characters in the movie that you don't want them to be in danger and you're very concerned about them. And the ending of the plot is very shocking, clever and unpredictable.

The cast performances in this movie attributes to the realism of the characters. Karen Gillian and Brenton Thwaites had a great chemistry as siblings in the movie. Katee Sackhoff also did a great job portraying her character. And last but not the least, the child actors also did a good job playing the younger version of Gillan and Thwaites' characters and they also felt like real children without being classified as annoying child movie characters.

The concept of this movie is really clever and it's quite new to the horror genre. The origins of the haunted mirror is not really explained well in this movie which is good as it would ruin the dynamic of the entire movie since this movie relies on character development.

The direction in this movie is excellent. You can tell during the movie that the director really worked hard to make this movie beautifully shot and directed. I am just so glad that they don't use the found footage plot device in this movie though it's clever for the characters to mimic the found footage for their own and not for us, the viewers.

Overall, this movie is so new to the horror genre. If you're looking for scary monsters with lame jumpscares, this movie is not for you. However, if you're looking for a horror movie that makes you terrified as well as it makes sure you care about the characters, go see it!