Movie Review: Oculus

Hey everyone! Dusty here and I'm officially a married man! Anyway, I'm on my honeymoon and because its our thing my wife and I took in a movie today and I just HAD to let you guys know what I thought. Oculus is directed by Mike Flanagan who you probably don't know. The film is based on a short film from 2006 written by Flanagan and Jeff Seidman.

Oculus is the story of two siblings, Tim and Kaley, who have been struggling for ten years to deal with the brutal murder of their parents presumably at Tim's hands. Kaley believes the event was all the fault of a supernatural force that indwells a mysterious antique mirror while Tim, after ten years of therapy, believes the mirror story was just a defense mechanism his mind made up to avoid dealing with his guilt. Now, Kaley enlists Tim's help in documenting the mirror's effects to show the world what really happened. The setup is interesting enough, but does Oculus pay off?
The Good

The story itself is excellent. I was fascinated by the psychological aspects of the film that bring to mind questions of sanity. Tim has finally come to terms with the fact that he killed his murderous father and now is thrust right back into the same house and is told that all of his progress is false. Which of Tim's realities is the real one and which did he construct for himself as a way to cope? He and the audience are left asking those questions right up until the end.

The Bad

While the story itself is great, the way it was presented was an absolute disaster! Like looking at a shattered mirror, the directer chose to piece the story together haphazardly, jumping forward and backward in time with absolutely zero explanation or indication. The result is a confusing mess that leaves the audience wondering what the hell is happening!

IMDB lists Oculus as a horror film but one of my biggest problems with it is the complete lack of horror. The only time I felt remotely uncomfortable was just a gross out scene but that's not horror. There are moments that are meant to scare, to be sure, but fall flat mostly due to my last point.

Oculus was made with a budget of $5 million dollars. Sure, that is a rather low number; but that is no excuse for poor production value in a world where Paranormal Activity (a horror film made for $15,000) was the scariest film of 2007! Low budgets do one of two things to filmmakers: they either bring out their creativity or show their lack of it. If Oculus is any indication, the team behind it lacks creativity.

The Verdict

Oculus boasts a solid setup but unfortunately its execution is a major let down. With a confusing editing, lack of any actual scares and poor production value, Oculus would probably be a decent straight-to-Netflix movie, but as a theatrical release expecting me to throw down $9.00 on my honeymoon to see it, not so much. Luckily it was a matinee!