Oculus (C+)

"You'll see what it wants you to see."

Oculus is a story about an evil mirror that drains lives and drives people mad. The tale is told through flashbacks which are interspersed seamlessly (and occasionally simultaneously) with the film's modern day component. When they were children, Tim and Kaylie Russel (Garrett Ryan and Annalise Basso) survived a murder attempt by their deranged father (Rory Cochrane). As the story goes, Tim shot and killed his father, saving both his and Kaylie's life. Their mother (Katee Sackhoff) had already been abused and killed by their father, leaving the two of them as orphans.

Following the death of their parents, Tim was sent to a psychiatric hospital to recover while Kaylie was apparently allowed to grow up in the outside world (I assume she lived with relatives or foster parents, but this point isn't real clear). Through treatment, Tim comes to realize that all the supernatural events he and his sister experienced were his own psychological response to the trauma of his father going crazy and killing his mother.

The movie picks up when Tim is released from the hospital eleven years later, having been determined sane. The older Tim (Brenton Thwaites) is finally able to see Kaylie (now played by Karen Gillan), and it's soon revealed that she firmly believes that the antique mirror in her father's study drove him to kill his wife and children. The siblings had promised one another that when they were older, they would destroy the mirror together. Given Tim's belief that the events were all in his head, he's not so easily convinced.

Aside from the dying and going crazy part, it is a pretty nice mirror.

Kaylie, who works for an auction house that has sold the mirror to a bidder, manages to take it back to their childhood home. She intends to prove that the mirror possesses terrible powers before destroying it. She argues at length with Tim, who staunchly refuses to believe her side of the story. That is, until things start to get weird. Soon, the two of them aren't sure what is real as their past plays along beside their present.

Oculus tells a chilling story and it does it well. Given the nature of the mirror and its powers, the viewer is never sure what is real and what is illusion. It makes Tim and Kaylie see only what it wants them to, and they spend some time trying to outsmart it before it can get its proverbial hooks into them. It's often impossible to tell if what is happening on screen is real, or if it's merely what's happening in their minds.

Tim and Kaylie, ready to kick that mirror's reflective butt.

There's this part where Kaylie goes over all the painstaking research she's done in the years since her parents' deaths, proving (at least in her mind) that there's something incredibly deadly and evil about the mirror. Watching her go through each of the mirror's prior owners, as well as the horrible things that happened to them, establishes an interesting history. I almost wanted to see more about these poor people and what befell them, along with the mirror's origins, rather than continue watching a story about Tim and Kaylie. Maybe a sequel (prequel?) will be made that covers more of those details.

The production values and acting are top notch. The characters are believable, for the most part, and it's easy enough to blame any of their less-intelligent actions on the mirror. While this makes sense, it can occasionally feel like a cop out on the part of the filmmaker, and you begin to wonder if the siblings have any hope of success at all. The passage of time, both in flashbacks and in the modern setting, is fairly vague, too. There aren't many big surprises, but there are enough early on to keep things fresh.

The ghosts seem satisfied with Alan's choice of weapon.

As far as frights, I didn't find Oculus to be particularly scary. The ghosts, when they appear, are pretty creepy, and the mirror (practically a character all by itself) is, too. Aside from low-level unease, though, there's not much in the way of big scares or horrifying moments. Maybe I'm desensitized, but any dread you're liable to feel comes from the fact that you never quite know what's going to happen to Tim and Kaylie. The ending is fairly predictable, and when you see it coming you'll know exactly what I mean.

There isn't a lot of gore to be found in Oculus. If you have trouble with the idea of people eating glass and fragments of ceramic, however, you might find that things get a little bit uncomfortable from time to time. Otherwise, much of the violence is understated or implied. The make-up effects used are competent enough, and there's a good bit of non-obvious CGI, as well.

The kids, not the grown-ups, are really the stars of this movie.

Overall, I enjoyed the story of Oculus more than I enjoyed the film itself. I never felt particularly attached to the adult characters, but I don't feel this had anything to do with their performances. It was the child actors and the younger versions of Tim and Kaylie that I found myself caring about, but even then, I knew they'd have to survive so their older selves could come back for the final act.

In the end, I don't think Oculus deserves much more than a C+ on my scale (which is just above average and is nothing to be ashamed of, IMHO). It's worth watching if you're interested in a somewhat languid ghost story involving two attractive people being menaced by an evil antique mirror. The storytelling techniques, as I said, are effectively done. Though it might get confusing at times, it all ends up making sense to one degree or another right up to its weighty conclusion.