Oculus (2014), R, ★★★

Karen Gillam is spooked by something.

What do you see when you are looking in the mirror?

Yourself, I presume. But, look at yourself and think deeply. What do you see? You see your inner flaws, your inner insecurities, your weaknesses, etc. But, sometimes, on a very bright day, you see your inner ambitions and your strengths. However, to take a psychological premise and turn it into a scary movie is extremely difficult as horror plots tend to go on "automatic pilot" or just become flatline ridiculous. This independent psychological horror flick is a good one.

Now, I'm going to be very careful writing this review because two different plot lines interweave with one another with flashbacks: 11 years ago and in the present. In the past, computer developer Alan Russell (Rory Cochrane) movie into the house with his wife, Marie (Katee Sackhoff), and his two children, Tim and Kaylie (Garrett Ryan and Annalisse Basso). Alan purchases an antique mirror that makes both parents hallucinate in their homes. I cannot give away what happens to them while being hallucinated, but they are truly disturbing.

The rest of the movie in the past reveals some major spoilers. Eleven years later, Tim (Brenton Thwaites), has been discharged from a psychiatric hospital believing that there are no supernatural events in a tragic night eleven years ago. Kaylie (Karen Gillan) has spent researching the ups and downs of this antique mirror, like people being involved with their unexpected and tragic fates. She is employed in a position for an auction home and transports it to her family home and displays surveillance cameras in a secure room to witness whatever events is going on. Kaylie intends to document the powers and destroy the mirror whatever means necessary. But, will Tim and Kaylie go on the same path when they are parents induce hallucinations?

The mirror.

This is probably the most difficult review that I have to display on the blog because most of the movie, in my humble opinion, are spoilers. What can I say about this? I think this is a well-crafted horror movie with some great techniques to move the story along. The flashbacks going from past to present is basically a technical exercise to alternate the coincidences of what has happened with each of the characters. However, the experiences with the mirror provide some great thrills and scares that frightened me quite a bit.

All of the performances are good and they do not overdo it. The camera angles are placed in different location that make logical, but unusual sense. It is a fairly logical supernatural-horror flick that generates curiosity as to why the conclusion is what it is. What can we comprehend after the whole movie was over?

As that brings to my criticisms of the movie, I felt like there was too much style and too much curiosity towards the end that it becomes less scary and it generated unanswered questions. My guess is that there will be a sequel as the last scene definitely hints one. It also gets a bit too gruesome in this supernatural horror genre that the gore was a bit unnecessary. Mike Flanagan, the director, became a little too courageous to balance the gore and the positive thoughts towards the end that it spiraled out of control and the end was weak. But, it is a solid old-fashioned ghost story that one can see with some friends during Halloween. Just think twice before looking at the mirror and ask yourself: what do you see closely?

***