Friday 16 May 2014

Film Review: Oculus (Horror)

Genre: Horror WARNING This film is highly disturbing in a Psychological way

Cert: 15 cert, but i think this should of been a 18 cert due to being very disturbing

Director: Mike Flanagan

Screen writer: Mike Flanagan , Jeff Howard , Jeff Seidman

Starring: Karen Gillan,  Brenton Thwaites,  Katee Sackhoff , Rory Cochrane,  Annalise Basso,  Garrett Ryan , James Lafferty,  Miguel Sandoval,  Kate Siegel,  Scott Graham,  Michael J. Fourticq,  Katie Parker,  Justin Gordon,  Bob Gebert , Brett Luciana Murray, Zak Jeffries,  Courtney Bell,  Elisa Victoria,  Dave Levine,  Stephanie Minter,  Lesa Johnson , Allison Boyd , James Flanagan,  Alexandra Beer,  Marc Evans,  Toni White. 

Running time: 104 min

Parents advised to read before viewing film as some scene may contain scenes unsuitable for younger viewers.

Sex & Nudity: There is a minor subplot where a wife thinks her husband is cheating on her and she envisions a woman ghost hanging around in his office seducing him.
A small joke about where kids come from.

Violence & Gore: The main theme of the movie is that a possessed mirror ruins the lives of the people who own it including causing them to kill their own family and friends and even themselves in graphic ways.
One scene where a women holds up various crime scene and morgue photos showing dead corpses from the history of the mirrors owners.
Several alternate reality and dream sequences throughout involving self mutilation and killing, however you find out that it wasn't real.
Several flashback scenes with two children being abused by their parents, which may upset some viewers.

Profanity: A few graphic profanities scattered throughout but not over the top graphic.

Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: A man and woman drink wine in several scenes
A small joke about a man coming from a Rehab facility needing his medication. 

Frightening/Intense Scenes: Several scenes involving intentional and unintentional child abuse which may upset some viewers. There are also several references to a brother and sister admitting they had a very dysfunctional family. There ghostly figures with mirrored eye that maybe disturbing for some viewers.



Story:A woman tries to exonerate her brother, who was convicted of murder, by proving that the crime was committed by a supernatural phenomenon, but what they are dealing with is much more powerful that they thought.

Likes : The genius of Oculus isn't the concept (haunted mirror) but the screenplay of disjointed story telling and flashbacks mixing into a coherent and perhaps a complex story. Think of it like a toned down Inception. It's effective because you eventually feel and question what is reality and not.
Now your think this is just going to be a main steam or mediocre horror which this is far from it, this is a highly disturbing Psychologically charge film really step in the paranormal world of reflections & beyond. From the begin it set the tone as you see Tim played by Brenton Thwaites discharged from a psychiatric hospital, having come to believe that there were no supernatural events involved in his parents' deaths.
while his sister Kaylie played by the beautiful Karen Gillan, meanwhile, has spent most of her young adulthood researching the history of this creepy but strange mirror, obsessively documenting the lives and deaths of everyone who's ever owned it.
This is where this film start to get extremely creepy & disturb as you start seeing flash back of what happen before the event of there family but i found some of the future event disturbing more than some of the past event although the ghostly figures you see are very Psychologically disturb & put a chill down your spine.
Your probable find yourself trying to compare this film to mirror but this is original in its own right, the very creepy tone the thing that happen its like the mirror knows what they are doing,  it manipulated them to protect itself & making them see thing which gives this film its edge & feeling of a much darker tone than the film mirrors i thought.
Unlike the conjuring this isn't as fast pace as that film but still a great horror film to watch, despite most of the bad review this film has got this is a very clever film to get under your skin with some seriously intense Psychological moment when you see something the tension starts mountain like most Psychological film do, this is why Psychological horror are the best horror film for me because they can be truly frightening.
Ive got say Katee Sackhoff has the face for horror film not in a bad way, she has this presence of looking menacing in this film which make her brilliant for this type of supernatural role.if you looking for a extremely creepy film with a great twist this is one film not to be missed, with this concept of the mirror's creepy wife's tale:

See the mirror hanging there
Face of silver, Frame of black
Oculus of glass, i Starr....

I can feel you starring back
I hear your voice, i believe your lies,
a window, a portal, a darkened door
Should you claim my starring eye,
my soul your hold, forever more inside.


After watch this film your never look at a mirror in the same way again because your be wondering when you Starr into a mirror, is the reflection starring back at you really you or is it a much darker soul starring back at you.That is the way this film's concept make you feel in a dark Psychological way.

Dislikes : The only thing not clear in this film which i think should of be explained is the supernatural force surrounding the mirror that wasn't clear other than the fact it feed off living soul's.but apart from that this film isn't bad.

Overall : Psychological film that get under your skin, seriously creepy & maybe be frightening for some.

Rating: 4.6 out of 5 for entertainment / 8.2 out of 10 for the story conceptPsychological dark tone of the film.



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