Oculus - Movie Review

A prototypical Horror movie that stands on the knife edge of good and Great.

With such a classic and simple idea, such as a haunted mirror, the film could have simply been ok, but with a jarring (in a good way) editing style and good central performances the film proves to be a good modern horror.

So let's talk about the editing style, the film constantly jumps between the present and the previous events, often merging the two together. This works because it allows the films to build a huge amount of tension and pace, while never doing the same thing for too long. This helps push the story through, with the mystery of the past events keeping the engagement levels high.

Then as the film progresses the two timeline start to merge, this works so well because it places a sense of uncertainty around what you are seeing. Combined with the Mirrors illusions it just creates a feeling of unease and uncertainty.

Another reason the film works so well, is that it ditches the cliche of "Scary little kids" and instead makes the parents the manifestation for the Mirror. Watching as the kids parents slowly turn from Normal to Feral and Demented, really creates a huge amount of tension and fear. Parents are normally seen a "Safety" and "Comfort" but watching them slowly descend really creates a feeling of dread, that is easy to relate to.

The film on falters on a few fronts, the main issue is that the "glassed" eyed spirits fail to be all that scary after there second or so encounter. Although due to the fact that they are almost absent for the first two thirds of the movie, its fine, but it does just detract from the films final act. The film also needed just a few more little finishing touches throughout to really make the film shine.

Overall with a focus on unease and dread the film is engrossing to the end, but it will make you think twice before buying another antique Mirror.

Rating: 7/10