Oculus

Oculus was one movie that I didn't hear anything about until about a month before it came out in theaters, I was looking up movies coming soon through the IMDB app on my phone and saw that this movie was coming out, I checked out the trailer for it and was already excited to see it when it drops in theaters and I ended up seeing it on April 11, which is when the movie came out on theaters. On to the actual movie, The movie is about brother and sister Kaylie and Tim Russell who experienced a traumatic nightmare when an antique mirror possessed by a supernatural phenomenon was responsible for the death of their parents but Tim was falsely accused for the committed murder and ends up in a mental hospital for years and Kaylie has been separated from him until years later when Tim gets released from the mental hospital and He and Kaylie have finally reunited as siblings once again. Kaylie finds the mirror from their childhood and due to a promise the both made to each other when they were kids, they plan an experiment where they will try to get the proof they need to show to the public that it was the possessed mirror who was responsible for the death of their parents as well as the previous owners of the mirror. They may be ready to start this experiment but what they are not prepared for is the many tricks the mirror has to offer to them to mess with them psychologically. The movie definitely does a good job with trying to scare you and keep you on the edge of your seat, the story is interesting, well paced, and keeps you entertained at best. The first 5 to 7 minutes does start a little slow but gets better as it picks up. If you like horror movies or looking for a good scare, Oculus should not be missed. I give Oculus an 8.9/10!

The title "Oculus" might be a dead giveaway of what this movie is about; an ocular illusion. So this is what I was expecting going into it, and I wasn't let down. Those who are expecting an overabundance of blood and cheesy one liners will not like this movie because they wouldn't understand what the writers are portraying. This movie is basically about an illusion projected by a haunted mirror that distorts reality to the viewers and to the characters alike. It takes you back and forth from past to present, eventually intersecting both time lines, obscuring reality and opening brief windows into time/space allowing characters from both timelines to interact with each other until they begin to mirror past events. Oculus is a dark and eerie psychological ride that starts slow, builds up and releases its full fury right up to the ending. This is a horror masterpiece and one of the better modern horror movies out there today.

The movie is terrifying. Mike Flanagan never fails to thrill and scare. Just a note to those purchasing this movie. While I did receive a brand new, unopened copy, the digital copy mentioned on the case no longer exists. Relativity Media went bankrupt years ago, and sadly, there is no other way to redeem the digital copy code. Movies Anywhere didn’t work either. The price I paid was worth it for just the blu-ray but a little bummed about no digital copy.

This is another great Mike Flanagan flick. I'm not going to give a synopsis of it since plenty of other have done that. My only complaint is that it isn't available on 4k.

This movie has a handle on the secret of good horror: if you have an intelligent monster, that constantly turns out to have been thinking moves ahead of its intended victims, you have a much more tension-loaded film. The two siblings are clearly of above-average intelligence, particularly the sister, who has been thinking about the malefic mirror that destroyed their lives ever since it killed their parents, eleven years earlier. Her preparations for doing battle with the entity in the mirror are as ingenious as they are deadly serious -- but the mirror has been around a lot longer, by several centuries, and no doubt has had adversaries even more formidable than this laser-focused, tightly coiled young woman. The movie relies on a surprisingly light (and chillingly effective) sprinkling of CGI, preferring to let the horror build psychologically, much like Robert Wise's version of "The Haunting." (Yes, Virginia, there were once movies that had no CG at all in them!) Eventually, their very reality is a twisted and ruined landscape, and which past and present are beginning to meld like briefly stirred paint. This one would definitely stand up to more than one viewing, especially since one can miss a detail or two on first watching and be a little befuddled as to what's happening. Just give yourself a decent interval of rest between watchings: you'll need it.

Loved this movie! Would recommend to anyone who enjoys horror/psychological thrillers.

This movie is genius. When I first watched this I had no idea it was directed by the same person who was behind Hill House and Bly Manor on Netflix. I love his style of horror and if you like this definitely check those two shows out on Netflix.

I enjoyed this movie and Mike Flanagan's body of work in general but unfortunately if you're looking for a digital copy to enjoy on your streaming box, tablet, or Movies Anywhere, you're SOL. The digital code included with the Blu Ray expired in 2017 and cannot be redeemed anywhere including Google Play, VUDU, Fandango, Movies Anywhere or the soon to be defunct Ultraviolet. Go ahead try for yourself. If you just want the disc though and don't care about the totally defunct digital copy, go ahead and buy this pretty entertaining horror movie.