Thursday 12 June 2014

Oculus - Review


Director: Mike Flanagan Writer: Mike Flanagan, Jeff Howard Studios: Relativity Media, Blumhouse Productions, WWE Studios, Intrepid Pictures Cast: Karen Gillan, Brenton Thwaites, Rory Cochrane, Katee Sackhoff Release Date (UK): 13 June 2014 Certificate: 15 Runtime: 103 min

The secret’s in the editing. “Oculus,” a new horror movie co-written, directed and edited by Mike Flanagan, delivers its frights not through eardrum-shattering jump scares or fountains of gore but through a shimmeringly clever premise and delightfully deceptive editing. The premise: a haunted antique wall mirror corrupts the minds of those that surround it, skewing their perception of reality and driving them murder-crazy. Years after her family was tormented by the mirror and her younger brother Tim was wrongly convicted of murder, auction house worker Kaylie (Scottish actress and former “Dr Who” assistant Karen Gillan, pulling off a stupendous stateside accent) tracks down the antique and takes it back to her old family home. Her aim: document the mirror with the aid of the recently discharged Tim (Brenton Thwaites), unveil its true nature to the rest of the world and end its reign of terror once and for all. What actually happens: not quite that.

It sounds like a simple enough set-up for a horror movie: a brother and sister find themselves once again terrorised by the mysterious household object that terrorised them when they were youngsters. But the really interesting thing about “Oculus” is not necessarily the story; rather, it’s the way the story is told. For starters, Flanagan and co-writer Jeff Howard tell their story by jumping back and forth between two different time periods: the present, where Kaylie and Tim document the mirror, and the past, where young Kaylie and Tim first encounter the mirror’s evil. At first, the two narratives play out side by side: for a couple of scenes we’re in the present, then for the next couple of scenes we’re in the past, then back to the present, and so on. But once the mirror really starts to screw with the heads of older Kaylie and Tim, the line separating past and present becomes more and more blurred. At first haunted by buried memories of family dysfunction and tragedy, Kaylie and Tim begin re-experiencing them too.

And with his film featuring an evil mirror which toys with the characters’ minds, Flanagan doesn’t skimp on toying with viewers’ minds too. Questioned throughout the film is whether or not what we’re watching is real, a hallucination brought on by the mirror or a byproduct of our characters’ possible insanity. Kaylie and Tim are plagued with visions and illusions which confuse, distract and deceive -- the mirror bites back against their attempts to destroy it, and soon enough they’re seeing things which aren’t there and chomping on apples which are a little crunchier than usual (seriously, after watching “Oculus,” you’ll never take a casual bite out of an apple again). It’s a great way to up the ante: the audience doesn’t know who or what to trust, what’s real and what’s unreal, and eventually, what’s past and what’s present -- and Flanagan revels in the chance to pull the rug from under his audience. And of course, the more time Kaylie and Tim spend around the mirror, the more questionable their surroundings become.

It all builds to a sensational climax in which the horrors of before begin to seep into the horrors of now and it’s not long until we can barely tell them apart. Past and present, along with reality and unreality, become seamlessly entangled and begin to interact with each other. It’s a brilliant use of editing in a finale that's skillfully staged and designed by Flanagan: with the two parallel narratives appearing to become one, our two older heroes step into the past, walking in on their cowering younger selves, feeling their fear and seeing what they see. The result of all this brain-boggling rug-pulling is both a finale which is weird, exhilarating and hair-raising, and something particularly peculiar: a horror movie which feels (*gasp*) refreshing.

It’s this which makes “Oculus” one of the most exciting horror movies to come along in a long while: here we have a horror movie that’s different and inventive and keeps you on your toes; here we have a haunted house picture that dares to draw outside the lines and has an imagination all on its own. And while yes, the shock ending can be seen a mile off and the film could do with a boost in the terror department, it’s still a joy to see a horror movie with such ambition and which feels this fresh. Word is this is to be the start of a new horror franchise, like “Saw” or “Paranormal Activity” -- the ending certainly leaves the door open for a sequel. Hopefully the series will maintain the same level of twisting cleverness as this thrilling first entry, lest it turn into... well, “Saw” or “Paranormal Activity.”

Rating: 8/10

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