The Inexplicable popularity of this dull, over-gimmicky horror could probably be explained by the inclusion of ex Doctor Who assistant Ms Karen Gillan to the cast. Not a fan of the show myself, I have no idea why she appears to have the following a lot of others who have left the role seem to lack... But what I can state is, a movie is NEVER as good as it's stars... And Oculus is an increasingly tiresome exercise in over-elaborate set-up with hardly any payoff.
Starting 11 years in the past, it documents the relocation of your typical white-bread American family (Mother, Father, Two Kids, Golden Retriever. Not too sure about the picket fence) to a new house, complete with a spooky mirror. This object seems to have the power to suck life from everything around it, and causes people to suffer hallucinations to protect itself. Before long the dog is acting weirdly, Mom is driven so crazy she has to be leashed, and Dad spends all his time brooding in his room. To cut a long story short, everyone but the children end up dead... With the boy committed to a secure institution, and the girl left to pick up the pieces.
Present day. The lad is now a man, and has finally been given clearance to leave the mental hospital. Guess what his sister has been doing while he's been on the inside... That's right. Tracking down the antique mirror, and buying it back. You see, she made a vow with her brother to 'purge it of it's evil' before he was send down... And now she expects him fulfill his promise. Rather unwisely, he agrees... And so begins a LONG process of filming the mirror from all angles, checking the temperature of the room it's in... Occasional breaks for snacks and water...
Yes, it IS as tedious as it sounds. And no, I have no idea why anyone with any attention span could sit through this tripe without having something on stand-by to pass the time through the many empty moments (I had my iPad. ALWAYS be prepared). As for the flashbacks, they might be cliché and predictable, but at LEAST you have SOME level of excitement. When it skips forward to the here and now, I found myself uncontrollably yawning at the not-quite-stimulating goings on. And yes... I get plenty of sleep, thank you very much.
And, you wanna know something else? I disliked Gillan in this role. She might be hot stuff in a cheesy Sci-fi serial, but here I found her shrill, manipulative and almost unbearable. During a certain 'shock' scene, when we were presumably meant to be saddened, I could only wish that what had just transpired had occurred earlier. Let's hope her annoying performance here is just a case of a bad script and direction, rather than a harbinger of things to come... 4/10
Starting 11 years in the past, it documents the relocation of your typical white-bread American family (Mother, Father, Two Kids, Golden Retriever. Not too sure about the picket fence) to a new house, complete with a spooky mirror. This object seems to have the power to suck life from everything around it, and causes people to suffer hallucinations to protect itself. Before long the dog is acting weirdly, Mom is driven so crazy she has to be leashed, and Dad spends all his time brooding in his room. To cut a long story short, everyone but the children end up dead... With the boy committed to a secure institution, and the girl left to pick up the pieces.
Present day. The lad is now a man, and has finally been given clearance to leave the mental hospital. Guess what his sister has been doing while he's been on the inside... That's right. Tracking down the antique mirror, and buying it back. You see, she made a vow with her brother to 'purge it of it's evil' before he was send down... And now she expects him fulfill his promise. Rather unwisely, he agrees... And so begins a LONG process of filming the mirror from all angles, checking the temperature of the room it's in... Occasional breaks for snacks and water...
Yes, it IS as tedious as it sounds. And no, I have no idea why anyone with any attention span could sit through this tripe without having something on stand-by to pass the time through the many empty moments (I had my iPad. ALWAYS be prepared). As for the flashbacks, they might be cliché and predictable, but at LEAST you have SOME level of excitement. When it skips forward to the here and now, I found myself uncontrollably yawning at the not-quite-stimulating goings on. And yes... I get plenty of sleep, thank you very much.
And, you wanna know something else? I disliked Gillan in this role. She might be hot stuff in a cheesy Sci-fi serial, but here I found her shrill, manipulative and almost unbearable. During a certain 'shock' scene, when we were presumably meant to be saddened, I could only wish that what had just transpired had occurred earlier. Let's hope her annoying performance here is just a case of a bad script and direction, rather than a harbinger of things to come... 4/10