Review of Oculus (2014) by Guillermo B — 12 Dec 2014

Summary: Strange, smartly written and quite depressing; Oculus is a gruesome psychological thriller for a very specific audience. 82/100 [B+].

The twenty-one year-old Timothy Russell is discharged from a mental institution by his psychiatric, completely healed from a childhood trauma. His sister Kaylie welcomes him in the parking area and brings him home. Then she tells that they need to destroy an ancient mirror that she has just bought in an auction. Tim follows his sister and has fragmented recollections from his childhood, when his mother Marie buys a mirror for the home office of his father Alan. The behaviors of Alan and Marie change, ending in a family tragedy. Kaylie blames the mirror and now she wants to destroy it with Tim. Will they succeed?

First of all, I want to say that I waited months for this film (since the first teaser-trailer came out). So, I went to the theater with very high expectations. Surprisingly, this movie was as good as I thought. I left the theater quite satisfied and very happy. It was very strange and complex. It proves that a horror film doesn't need gore or jump-scares to be scary. Oculus relies on fear and tension. It's suspenseful and it has enough bloody scenes to satisfy horror buffs. It's definitely a psychological-thriller rather than a horror flick. It is very interesting because the film explores several themes like skepticism, adultery and psychology.

There were two or three funny moments, but most of the film was serious. The first act may be a bit too slow for some people, but not to me; it kept me entertained all time. It has some drama and lengthy discussions between the two main characters (Kaylie and Tim) and I actually found this moments very interesting and well written. Most of the first act is character development and there are a few jump-scares. Then, towards the middle of the film, Kaylie tells the story behind the mirror, this whole scene is rich in storytelling and extremely well scripted, it was very entertaining and intriguing to me.

Oculus tells two stories at once, one of them is the story of Tim, Kaylie and their parents 10 years ago, the other one is about Tim and Kaylie (as adults) trying to destroy the mirror. Again, holy crap the script is excellent! The dialog between the characters feels so realistic and smart, and the decisions of the characters are surprisingly intelligent. They're dealing with a "haunted mirror" the most logical solution here is to break the damn mirror, it may seem easy to you but the problem here is that the mirror is indestructible! It has its own creepy defense organism, that's why I love this movie, it's so strange and original.

Karen Gillian did a terrific job performing Kaylie. In addition, Annalise Basso performs the younger version of Kaylie and this little girl is undoubtedly the best actress in the film, good job! Brenton Thwaites performs Tim, he nailed it, his acting was astonishing, especially in the ending. Garrett Ryan performs the younger version of Tim and well... he was good enough. Rory Cochrane and Katee Sackhoff perform their parents, Katee's acting was superb, she was perfect for the role, I just can't imagine another actress playing her character. Unfortunately, Rory Cochrane was a total miscast, he's kinda unlikable and his acting was a bit lazy.

Oculus is easily one of the best horror films of the year and the best Blumhouse production since The Bay. Oculus was made with ambition and care. However it's not perfect at all, I actually have some issues with the movie. On the downside, it presents some flaws in its final act, it becomes way too explicit, it showed too much of these "ghosts" or victims of the mirror with creepy white eyes, it became somewhat weird; also, the last 30 minutes of the movie were very confusing to me and the story was really hard to follow at several times. But the film quickly rises up with a violent, shocking and depressing ending.

I am a huge fan of Mike Flanagan, few years ago he directed an indie horror film called "Absentia" and I have to admit that it's definitely a better movie compared to Oculus. But my point here is that both films offer a different type of horror, both deal with psychological issues and the skepticism of their characters about these supernatural issues, what is real and what is not. Oculus is not a film for everybody, but it is definitely a must see if you like psychological horror movies. I also want to add that the soundtrack made by The Newton Brothers, is modern, enjoyable and fits with the creepy tone of the film. [B+].