Horror movies these days find themselves in a tough position. The genre is pretty much tapped for original ideas and the films for the most part fall into the make or break contingent of how well they tackle a familiar idea. Coming from the producers of Paranormal Activity and Insidious, Oculus is not out to break new ground, but it does manage to provide solid some scares. It’s essentially a haunted mirror movie, but effectively manages to break away from the pack courtesy of some solid performances from the cast and clever parallel storytelling.
Oculus tells the tale of Tim and Kaylie Russell, your everyday siblings who loved to play lazer tag around the house until their lives were torn apart following the violent deaths of their parents. A mysterious 400 year old mirror, known as the Lasser Glass, unfortunately makes its way into their happy household. When researched, the antique has been linked to the horrible demises of all who become its caretaker.
Much like all those before them, the Russells fall prey to the mirror’s dark seductive influence, which slowly sinks the patriarchs into madness. When Alan Russell kills his wife Marie, ten year old Tim shoots his father dead seemingly in cold blood. The boy is sent to a mental ward and his sister Kaylie finds herself in and out of foster homes.
We join Tim (Benton Thwaites) ten years later when he is released from rehabilitation and reunites with his sister (Karen Gillan), who is hell bent on getting to the bottom of the evil supernatural powers of the Lasser Glass. Kaylie has tracked down the mirror through high end art dealers and secures it for a few days to their abandoned family house. Using ghost hunter worthy tactics, Kaylie sets up cameras and environmental evaluation gear to try to prove the mirror’s powers and clear Tim’s conscience regarding of the murder of their father. She also rigs an elaborate kill contraption that is set to promptly destroy the mirror when once she defeats it.
During Tim’s time in the clinic, he’s had a lot of reprogramming regarding the incidents he was a part of years earlier. He is understandably reluctant to revisit the house of horrors and be in the presence of the mirror. Kaylie of course will not rest until the truth about the evil forces that lie within the mirror are revealed as what drove her father to kill his wife and clear up the facts regarding Tim’s retaliation.
The majority of the movie takes place in their house, jumping back and forth in timelines from Kaylie and Tim’s childhood and adulthood, building to the their descents into obsessive madness. There are more than enough haunted house hijinks to keep your attention, and director Mike Flanagan effectively uses jump scares and a throbbing synth score to keep the tension high. The scant use of digital effects also brings a tangible feel to the film. There are a few notable hallucination induced cringe worthy moments when you will be hard pressed to not look away, but Flanagan values old school thriller tactics over gratuitous gore.
Oculus also relies on old school bump in the night jump scares and typical horror hijinks, and maintaining a dark tense atmosphere as we build towards the deaths of Alan and Marie in the past, and the present day story of Kaylie and Tim’s quest.
Karen Gillan, the red haired Scot best known as Amy Pond from Doctor Who (and will be seen in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy this summer) gets to show off her manic side and wide-eyed intensity, which offers a welcome departure from her Who persona. Katee Sackhoff, another sci-fi fan favorite who kicked ass as Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica, gives a solid turn as the tortured Marie, but it left mostly to react to the horrors all around. But its the young cast members who really get to shine. When it comes to child actors, they can make or break a film if heavy lifting is needed. Thankfully, Garret Ryan and Annalise Basso, who play the young Tim and Kaylie, are outstanding in their roles and bring with them the necessary emotional intensity.
Oculus is an effective film that benefits from the great performances of its cast, and capitalizes on its execution than overall originality. It’s not the first time we’ve seen the haunted house scenario played out, but Oculus hits the right creepy marks where it counts as a slow burn horror thriller ripe with sudden scares, a solid cast and a throbbing synth score.
Oculus opens in theaters on April 11th.
REVIEW RATING: ★★★★★
Director: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Karen Gillan, Katee Sackhoff, Brenton Thwaites, Rory Cochrane, Annalise Basso
Screenwriters: Mike Flanagan and Jeff Howard
Studio: Relativity Media
Rated: R
Running Time: 104 minutes
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