Review of Oculus (2014) by Agentkmurph — 11 Oct 2014

A Shakespearean tragedy disguised as a psychological thriller / horror film. The movie has a strong impact if you suspend the expectation to be scared and shocked because it simply doesn't do that.

Why is that? Because you catch on rather quickly that most of the movie is an illusion. The two main characters are reliving the trauma of their past in real time rather than flashing back to it. The director makes this perfectly obvious by interleaving the past and present, having the past versions of the characters occupy the same space and time as the adult characters. As a result, you realize you can't really believe anything you are seeing and fear arises from what we believe to be real not what we don't. There are a few of those jump out of your skin moments but they are entirely predictable as in someone turns around slowly and 7 Days chic is standing there - meh.

The story though was heart-wrenching. You have boy, Tim, who inadvertently kills his father and (SPOILER ALERT) sister Kaylee because of this mirror thing from hell. A family is torn apart methodically by a sinister and malevolent force that has killed many others before. The scene at the end sticks in my mind like retina burn from an arc welder; Tim furiously pleading "It was the mirror" as he is driven away in a police cruiser and his sister materializing with the signature chromed eyes of the mirror's victims next to his parents with the same telltale trait in the window of the family's old house. Its at the moment when it really sinks in "Holy sh**, he actually killed his sister, he's the only one of his family still alive, he's going away to the big house, and no one will ever believe it wasn't his fault." No happy ending here. Its melancholy, depressing, and truly tragic.

But not scary. And that is why I have to rate it down. It passes itself off as a horror thriller but its really a tragedy. Came for one thing got something else.