"Oculus" is a horror film that tries very hard to be clever, hip and psychologically terrifying. I stress the term "tries" because unless you're a theatrical snob who mistakes style with substance and convinces yourself that you're brilliant enough to know the difference even when you're not, you're likely to find this film to be a total flop.
The story in nutshell goes like this: a mirror destroys a family, leaving the Mother and Father dead, and their 10 year old son incarcerated while their 12 year old daughter is forced into foster care.
Fast forward 11 years, and 21 year old Tim Russell is being released from a mental health facility, where his Doctor warns him if he must choose between his sanity and his sister, he needs to choose his sanity.
Meanwhile Kaylie Russell picks up her brother, and informs him that she has access to a cursed mirror that led to the insanity and ultimate demise of their parents, and she expects him to make good on a promise he made when he was 10 to help her destroy the evil being in the mirror.
We get a general accounting of the horrors that have been visited upon all who have come into contact with the mirror, a strategy to destroy the mirror that makes utterly no sense, a fail-safe that the moment you see it you just know one of the siblings is going to wind up impaled on it, and a convoluted passing of the evening that intermingles the experiences of the siblings as children and in the present day.
There are some interesting parts and some scenes that are quite stylish, but for the most part the only questions I have are as follows:
1) If the house remained in the possession of the kids after their parents died, why didn't the mirror?; and
2) Why not just put the mirror up, set the timer on the fail-safe, and walk out the front door and let it happen? I mean all that planning by Kaylie, and she couldn't figure out that summoning the evil presence with them still in the house served no logical purpose???
This movie has gotten critical praise, and I'm sure some people who conflate style with substance will call this movie a horror classic, but it really isn't.
It is the proverbial story of what Bill Maher calls "a smart stupid person," and there's just too much bland monotony to have the film go down THAT ridiculous path!
The story in nutshell goes like this: a mirror destroys a family, leaving the Mother and Father dead, and their 10 year old son incarcerated while their 12 year old daughter is forced into foster care.
Fast forward 11 years, and 21 year old Tim Russell is being released from a mental health facility, where his Doctor warns him if he must choose between his sanity and his sister, he needs to choose his sanity.
Meanwhile Kaylie Russell picks up her brother, and informs him that she has access to a cursed mirror that led to the insanity and ultimate demise of their parents, and she expects him to make good on a promise he made when he was 10 to help her destroy the evil being in the mirror.
We get a general accounting of the horrors that have been visited upon all who have come into contact with the mirror, a strategy to destroy the mirror that makes utterly no sense, a fail-safe that the moment you see it you just know one of the siblings is going to wind up impaled on it, and a convoluted passing of the evening that intermingles the experiences of the siblings as children and in the present day.
There are some interesting parts and some scenes that are quite stylish, but for the most part the only questions I have are as follows:
1) If the house remained in the possession of the kids after their parents died, why didn't the mirror?; and
2) Why not just put the mirror up, set the timer on the fail-safe, and walk out the front door and let it happen? I mean all that planning by Kaylie, and she couldn't figure out that summoning the evil presence with them still in the house served no logical purpose???
This movie has gotten critical praise, and I'm sure some people who conflate style with substance will call this movie a horror classic, but it really isn't.
It is the proverbial story of what Bill Maher calls "a smart stupid person," and there's just too much bland monotony to have the film go down THAT ridiculous path!