Film Review: Oculus
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It’s probably not wise to start out a movie review with an exclamation like “this movie is a piece of shit” but here goes nothing. Oculus, the movie about a haunted mirror and two siblings’ quest to end it’s reign of terror is a piece of shit. There is not one thing in this movie that you can hang your hat on or go to bat for in the movie and in the end, it’s one of the most frustrating movie going experiences I’ve had in my entire life.
Oculus weaves between two timelines. In the past, a new family has moved into a house. The father has bought an ornate mirror that we soon find out is a mirror that has killed all of it’s previous owners. Things start off innocently enough but when their mother starts going crazy and Kaylie and Tim see a ghost haunting their father, they know they have to do something. That something of course has tragic consequences for both of their parents and sends Tim to a mental health facility and Karen to the foster system. In the present, the kids are now adults and Kaylie (Karen Gillan) has tracked down the haunted mirror and is determined to not only prove there are supernatural shenanigans, but destroy the mirror as well. Of course this is set in motion when her brother (Brendan Thwaites) is released from a mental institution, having been there since killing his father. He’s not really game for helping but when shit starts to hit the fan, both siblings have to fight for their sanity and their lives.
To pinpoint where this movie went wrong is hard when it feels like everything in the movie was contributing to the awfulness. Like most bad movies, we can start with the script. Oculus for all it’s terribleness is above all a horribly written film. And by film, I mean 2/3 of a film because Oculus sets up an interesting 1st and 2nd act, only to forget about sticking the landing with a 3rd act. How did this movie get green lit when there are so many issues with this script on a fundamental level?
For example, there’s a 10-15 scene where Kaylie runs down the history of the mirror and how they plan to stop it. While it’s wonderful that they let the audience know what’s going on, the setup is so elaborate and the history so disjointed that the movie has a hard time moving forward. When a character has to set 4 alarm clocks to remind themselves to do things, you know how have a difficult task at hand.
Furthermore, Oculus doesn’t give the audience any kind of reasoning for why events are happening or what they mean other than this mirror is driving people crazy and killing folks. But why is the mirror doing this? Has it always been evil? What’s the source of the evil? Why are previous people it’s killed haunting those in the present? These are basic questions this movie failed to answer in its 2+ hour (2+ hour!) running time. Also, this movie’s ending is so foolish and confusing, ending on two notes (both the past and the present “endings” end the movie) that Oculus makes you feel as though you’ve wasted your time.
My biggest issue with the movie might have been how it treated real world issues with in its fantastical narrative. I don’t necessarily think that films have a responsibility of having characters behave properly or believe in anything, but I thought the movie was dangerous with how it treated the mental issues of Tim. Like how are you going to have your movie basically shit on the mental health care system just so that your movie’s logic can be proven? Totally not necessary.
It’s no small feat then with all of these issues that Mike Flanigan manages to somehow create a movie with great forward momentum. Oculus had to be a Hearculean editing feat to match the actions of the past and the present, especially towards the end when fantasy and reality start blending together. But how much credit can you give this writer/director/editor for how nice the movie flows when the film he’s making doesn’t lead anywhere or understand its own logic?
To end, Oculus could have been at least a decent movie given the actors involved, the subject matter, and some interesting scares. But logic problems, a terrible ending, and unclear motivation make this movie one of the worst films I have ever seen.
Grade: 1/2/**** (F)
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4 thoughts on “Film Review: Oculus”
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I’m a little confused at your anger over Oculus’s refusal to lay out the motivations of the evil mirror. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it a *good* thing when a horror movie doesn’t explain (or makes inexplicable) whatever is terrorizing the characters? We fear what we don’t know, so if you knew what the source or reason behind the evil was, that would make it less scary, no?
Or think about a movie like The Strangers. Would you have preferred to see some backstory attached to those three home invaders?
Normally I would agree with you, but even when you don’t know everything about the terror having some backstory is necessary if the characters are going to attempt to kill it. For example, the movie shows how the mirror got its lone crack in the glass and never goes back to that. Like I can suspend my disbelief of a killer mirror quite easily, but this movie doesn’t give you any kind of clue as to why the mirror might be doing this, which could give the characters clues on how to defeat it.
I don’t think The Strangers needed backstory since it’s a home invasion tale. the Oculus mirror has a long history and ties to the characters that needed explanation
I think I get what you’re saying. It sounds like the problem was that Oculus adopted an investigative framework (à la The X-Files) to tell its story and used it to run in circles without actually saying anything.
LOL that is the perfect description