After seeing the trailer for this movie, Oculus just kind of looked like the same rehashed crap that we've all seen a million times. But after hearing about all the praise it's gotten, I decided to give it a try and stream it on Netflix. And boy I'm glad I did.
The plot follows two siblings whose parents were supposedly driven crazy by a haunted mirror resulting in the sister going into foster care and the brother, who killed the father out of self defense, being sent to a mental institution. 11 years later, the two siblings reunite and return to their old house to try and prove to the world that the mirror is in fact haunted and that the events that unfolded were not fictional. What follows is a series of events that leads the main characters to question what's real and what's not.
Unlike most horror movies, Oculus doesn't rely on violence to deliver its scares. In fact, it doesn't even really rely on scares in general. It's meant to be more of a psychological dive into the minds of our two main characters who find that the line between fiction and reality is so blurred that they can't even tell what's real anymore. And the movie tries to make the audience feel the same way by messing with our heads. Who perceived a certain event correctly? Was it really a supernatural occurrence or are the characters just losing their sanity? Oculus doesn't rely on cheap scares like most horror movies do. It takes a more complex and psychological approach to its premise. That's what makes it such a great and unique horror film.
The plot follows two siblings whose parents were supposedly driven crazy by a haunted mirror resulting in the sister going into foster care and the brother, who killed the father out of self defense, being sent to a mental institution. 11 years later, the two siblings reunite and return to their old house to try and prove to the world that the mirror is in fact haunted and that the events that unfolded were not fictional. What follows is a series of events that leads the main characters to question what's real and what's not.
Unlike most horror movies, Oculus doesn't rely on violence to deliver its scares. In fact, it doesn't even really rely on scares in general. It's meant to be more of a psychological dive into the minds of our two main characters who find that the line between fiction and reality is so blurred that they can't even tell what's real anymore. And the movie tries to make the audience feel the same way by messing with our heads. Who perceived a certain event correctly? Was it really a supernatural occurrence or are the characters just losing their sanity? Oculus doesn't rely on cheap scares like most horror movies do. It takes a more complex and psychological approach to its premise. That's what makes it such a great and unique horror film.