A brother and sister, estranged after the former's extended and involuntary stay in a mental hospital, are reunited upon his release on his 21st birthday. They reflect (no pun intended) on the disturbing past which forged them: their parents' violent deaths and the role a centuries-old mirror may or may not have played. She believes it is haunted and possessed their parents, whereas he has come to doubt his memories and senses. Through her position at a prestigious auction house, she has once again found the mirror, and they return with it to the scene of the crime in a desperate search for answers. This sets in motion the core storyline of Oculus, a film in which the past is far more than just prologue as it cuts throughout between the present day and the protagonists' experiences as children a decade prior, resulting in a double-pronged cinematic experience in which editing is often used to blend, disrupt, and otherwise toy with time and space. It is indicative of the overall production's strongest element: the joy with which it upends the quote-unquote truth of what the characters (and by extension the audience members) see. Again and again, images and viewpoints must be reassessed or investigated, and it gives the film a dimension both playful and vertiginous. In other areas, this registers as a solid, if modest bump-in-the-night entertainment which, as so many films do, lifts from The Shining and its portrayal of a patriarch seduced by evil and gone awry. The silver-eyed phantoms who populate the frame are never too frightening, but the riveting and surprising mystery compensates.

B

It's not scary at all and actually kind of boring, but the leads are both great and deliver strong performances that led to me enjoying this a bit more than I was expecting. It's definitely not deserving of such strong reviews though - it's nothing new. And the ending is a mess. C+

AMAZING movie. And I definitely preferred it to The Conjuring. I found it more involving.

It was fantastic. So well-made. Great performances, especially by Karen Gillan, Katee Sackoff, and the two young kids. Gillan is fascinating. I'm not familiar with her. Honestly not familiar with any of the actors in the film. It's slower-paced and not scary, but it's quietly unnerving and not boring for a second. I was admiring its craft the whole time. The directing and seamless transitioning from past to present were great.

An easy early contender for best horror film of the year. Those expecting a non-stop scare-fest will be very disappointed. This isn't one of those horror movies with a ton of jump scares. It's a slow burn that quietly gets under your skin. It's not fast-paced but I wasn't bored for a second. Really cared about the main characters and thought the story was really interesting. I thought this was really something special for the genre and refreshingly different.


A

I liked the storyline and I generally liked the acting (though Gillan's American accent was weak at times), but it just wasn't ever scary.

Not every horror movie has to be scary. This is an awesome, clever, well-executed horror film. I enjoyed every minute of it.

What a rare pleasure - - an intelligent horror movie!

In fact, Oculus is so smart it can barely be categorized with what the horror genre has putrefied into today. It is really more like a really good feature length Twilight Zone episode.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story structure of the overlapping timelines, especially the lead character's attempt to impose a logical experiment framework, only to have it descend inexorably into madness.

The acting was excellent - - I especially look forward to seeing a lot more of Karen Gillan in the future!

Of course, making a smart horror movie has proven to be financial suicide of late, since fans of the genre seem to crave the cheese, so we may never get to see Oculus 2 - - it's a damn shame.


88 out of 5.

"Not every comedy has to be funny."

If it's not scary, disturbing, or atmospheric, how is it a successful horror movie?

But it is atmospheric. Disturbing too. Just not scary. If I recall you enjoyed Curse of Chucky. Did you find that scary? I kinda doubt it. Doesn't mean it didn't succeed at what it was trying to do. As long as it entertains that's the main thing.

How do we define "scary" anyway? If it is a film which truly creeps the viewer out and haunts them afterward in a profound way (the way many people respond to, for example, The Shining), then scary horror films are rare. If it only requires populating a film with easy jolts (quiet hallway, LOUD VIOLIN NOTE), then scary horror films are fairly easy.

The word I might use to best describe Oculus is tense. The blending of past and present. The disorientation. The awful situation the children are in as their parents lose their grip on sanity. It is an anxious, involving film.

That's an interesting point, Mike, to which I'd say -- CURSE OF CHUCKY was viscerally exciting. OCULUS was not. This is a film that wants to really unnerve you, and it simply doesn't (or didn't with me). I liked the cross-cutting between timelines, but I saw this film two days ago and haven't given it a thought since. THE PURGE: ANARCHY left more of an impression in my mind, for Heaven's sake.

I also think it's interesting that people who've never seen Gillan before really dig her here, whereas I've known her for years and found her okay at best. Maybe it's an accent thing.



Is it impossible for you to stop thinking about the film after you've left?
Do you lay in bed at night creeped out because of images in your head?
Hell, did it make you jump?

OCULUS did none of these things for me.

I do believe I jumped once.

Anyway, I am not arguing the film is enormously scary. If pushed, I would classify it more as a supernatural mystery than a balls-to-the-wall horror film.

I would probably be scared by this.

Thus, it's a "horror" film.

If you expect that you have lofty expectations. Unless you're a major p*ssy and scare so easily that it wouldn't be difficult for a film to accomplish those . This could go for a lot of easy scares but it doesn't. Jump scares can be fun but they aren't real scares. At least not IMO. There do seem to be many who found this scary though. You'll see several comments on Rotten Tomatoes from reviews saying it's really scary. I didn't think it was that type of horror movie myself.

I can find people who thought THE PURGE and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE MARKED ONES were scary. A certain sector of audience is going to find every single horror film that hits theaters scary.

Its actually never scary. Creepy maybe, but those silver eyes made those dead characters look too cartoonish.

I would be scared.

Next you're going to tell me Child's Play isn't scary because it's a doll.

I particularly enjoyed the score in Oculus - - really added to the mood.

Maybe when i was 8-9 years but now its a very stupid stupid movie.

A very riveting, intense horror flick. While there aren't necessarily instant scares, the sense of dread, fear, and careful curiosity to what's ahead make for a film that could surprise at any moment. The mixing of past and present really adds to the film leading to an ending which is quite chilling compared to most horror efforts as of recent. While the adult cast shines, the children in the respective younger roles also hold up the film quite well in their own way.

Glad you liked it. Still the best horror film I've seen this year.

The Den is my favorite horror movie of the year but yeah, this one was really good.

This was quite thrilling and interesting up until the final moments. The narrative intersects between two periods of time, but it's never overdone, and the way it merges at the climax is fantastic. Unfortunately, giving the mirror two clear, decisive victories makes the entire story pointless, does it not? And it's an easy fix too. Just lift the killswitch back up and let it destroy the mirror, while simultaneously casting doubt on her death, like they did with whats-his-face-fiance-dude. It turned a mind bending thriller into psychological torture porn.

This is still bothering me. How do you not give your protagonists at least a temporary moment of triumph? They spend all this time building up these characters, only to reveal the twist - they were completely irrelevant and could have been any one of the mirror's victims. I really think they could have had an Insidious-like sleeper hit on their hands if they just respected their characters enough to not shove them aside at the very end. Insidious had a downer-twisty ending, but at least they accomplished their original goal before it happened.