Oculus

As if the horror genre didn't have enough bad ideas

Our story follows Kaylie and Tim Russell (played by Karen Gillan and Brenton Thwaits), two surviving children from a murder that happened in front of them during their formative years. The twist is that what people think is a murder was really a possession. What possessed them? A Ghost? No. A mirror. This mirror not only possesses people but alters their perception of reality. It makes you see things that aren't really their, or makes you believe what it wants you to believe. After the events from their childhood Kaylie sets out to destroy the mirror once and for all, making an attempt to recruit her brother. The problem with that is that her brother just finished undergoing intense rehabilitation therapy, and doesn't believe the mirror is responsible for what happened to them. As Kaylie tries to get him to remember, he tries to convince her that she is delusional. Or is she?

They story line is not a winner here, we have all seen possession movies before. The only thing different between this movie, and other possession movies is the fact that the mirror can also make you think things with out actually possessing you. Everything that comes up in the movie just feels more and more like we have seen this before in countless other movies. It also annoys me that this movie is going to spark talks of which sibling was right at the end of the day, psychologically it could be either. There is just nothing that really jumps off the page with this, just rehash garbage.

I never expect horror movies to be saturated with amazing story line, the real question is: Was this movie scary? Short answer: no. This movie has all of the qualities that should make it scary, but just ends up disappointing. They keep your anticipation high, but it takes them too long to deliver something even hinting at frightening. It is kind of like hanging out with someone you really like all day, and they keep saying you will have sex but then just fall asleep. This movie is the tease of horror films. The atmosphere changes (in that horror sort of way), and you wait for something to scare you but it just doesn't happen or takes too long to happen. This movie likes to use gross out factors as a scare tactic, and predictable jump scares. I usually like jump scares, but only when I can't see them coming. It is really just sad at the end of the day, this movie shows so much potential when you are watching it, but it never lives up to that potential.

What can I really say about the acting here...it is a horror movie. The acting isn't amazing. The problem that follows most horror movies (and the problem that found its way to this movie) is that actors have to look terrified 75% of the time. The other 25% of the time they are building story line or developing their character. Neither of these provide the actor with much wiggle room to emote. This movie had the main actress (Karen) play a woman that was all business, but she played it in such an annoying way that you just wanted her to stop putting you through her little episodes. It tried to have the main actor (Brenton) look like a sobbing little kid through out the run time, but he just looked catatonic.

I can give the movie this, if they had made a larger attempt to scare the audience (instead of grossing them out) they would have succeeded. The camera work in this was perfect for horror. It only revealed enough of the scene so that you were always waiting (hoping) for something to pop up just out of sight. While it was a tease, it was also a deeper disappointment knowing that they knew how to make a scary movie, they just didn't.

Final Verdict: Netflix It This movie was bad-ish. It had a couple of scenes that might be worth your time, and if you are a fan of films with good camera work this is the movie for you.