Review of Oculus (2014) by Itsmuchmore — 08 Feb 2015

It is often said that a mirror offers not only a reflection of one’s own physical being, but also a reflection of their soul. The eyes meanwhile are far more subjective, being connected to the human brain which may lie to us more times than we would like to believe. When the physical frame can corrupt the mental existence so easily, how are we truly able to discern between the truth and the false truth. That is precisely what Mike Flanagan explores in his feature-length directorial debut.

Oculus is a supernatural / psychological horror starring Karen Gillan of Doctor Who fame and adapted from Flanagan’s popular short film Oculus: Chapter 3 – The Man With The Plan. The story begins in 2002 with the Russell family as brother and sister Tim (Brenton Thwaites) and Kaylie (Karen Gillan) try to escape their family after he had killed their mother. We then jump ahead 11 years where we learn that Tim had shot his father and has since been in an Institution. On the day of his release his sister greets him only to announce that she bought ‘it’ and expects him to keep his promise to kill ‘it’. The ‘it’ in question is revealed to be a large antique mirror. After years of clinical supervision Tim has grown to accept the incident on logical and psychological terms. Kaylie however sternly refutes that their father was not to blame and that it was in fact a supernatural phenomenon courtesy of the mirror. Reluctantly, Tim follows his sister back to their old family home where Kaylie has set up an intricate experiment to prove once and for all that the mirror is evil.

What follows is a run-through of the long list of horrific scenarios each of the mirror’s owners faced, dating back to the 1700s, along with a detailed series of precautions Kaylie has in placed in order to keep the pair from falling too deep into the abyss. You see the primary and unique danger that the mirror seemingly presents is that, as the advertising tagline states, ‘you see what it wants you to see’. For instance, upon biting into an apple, Kaylee ends up pulling shards of a light bulb from her mouth, only afterward to be met with concerned looks from her brother as she has been painfully spitting out mere slices of apple. The rest of the plot is unravelled as the pair attempt to survive in the house whilst reliving their childhood memories of the original event. The juxtaposition of both stories are weaved neatly together in a very smart narrative that constantly places the audience in the same situation as the two leads. It is believed that the mirror causes plants to die and animals to disappear. And yet both are seemingly explained; cameras show Tim and Karen moving the plants, and whilst Karen remembers their pet dog having suddenly disappeared whilst trapped with the mirror, Tim recalls their parents discussing it had to be put down whilst at the doctors. The viewer soon follows this train of thought by their own accord. As children they seemingly could not destroy the mirror, and now they are reluctant to do so without proving its power first. Perhaps this is indeed due to an unspeakable force, or it is simply their refusal to eradicate a symbol of their helplessness when faced with such a traumatic event. Only the viewer can truly decide what to make of the events that unfold.

In the aftermath of Paranormal Activity, the director of Oculus was initially approached by many studios who wished to turn the project into a found footage movie. Flanagan outright refused and only accepted Intrepid Pictures’ offer under the obligation that it was not found footage. The end result is something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand it lacks what many modern horror audiences love: jump scares and gore. The only element of any noticeable comparison to popular horror films nowadays such as Insidious and Paranormal Activity are the odd humanoid apparitions adorned with glowing eyes. Personally, I found these ‘ghouls’ to be the only notable fault of the film as they simply something we’ve all seen before and not presented in any particularly unique sense. They are simply there to bring in the punters and deliver the odd attempt at being ‘scary’. However the other side to Oculus is what prevails and truly works in this critic’s opinion. The plot, consisting of two interesting stories, is notched up to eleven thanks to an intelligent script that delivers enthralling dialogue, enhanced by the charismatic and somewhat disturbing Gillan, and a slow-burn pace that sucks the viewer in until they soon realise just how deep they have gotten, attempting to figure out just where they are within the timelines and just what is really happening.