Naty's Spooky Corner

Oculus

★★★★★

Sunday, January 16, 2022, 2:00 AM

Hey hey ya'll, welcome back to another year of phenomenal spooky watching filled with questionable reviews by yours truly. I thought I would start this year off as strong as I'm trying to manifest my own personal goals, and I hope you enjoy the following review:

Oh boy, deep breathe Naty…This week I want to take a moment to break down one of my top 5 horror films. A task that I have dutifully avoided during the year long existence of this blog. I know, I know - I shouldn’t hold back when it comes to the horror movies that have truly made an impact on me like this one has. You just have to understand, dear reader, that not only is this not an easy task because of the pressure and whatever other blah blah reason you can think of, but also because this movie is such a doozy to understand. I’ll try my best to break down what I think happens in this post, but please keep in mind that it is not perfect nor fully representative of everything that is seen on the screen. To make it even more fun, I’ll throw in a couple of my own interpretations and character breakdowns as well.

Oculus is a 2013 American Supernatural psychological film that was co-written, edited, and directed by Mike Flanagan (who we love!). Incredibly the film is based on a short made by Mikey himself, seven years prior and is available on Youtube if you’re curious enough to check it out - Oculus: Chapter 3 - The Man with a Plan (Warning though, it was clearly the film student version of the final product). The film centers around a young woman, named Kaylie, who is convinced that an entity that resides within an antique mirror is responsible for the death and misfortune that her family suffered 11 years prior. Her and her brother, Tim, who has recently been released from prison, quickly become wrapped up in her quest to prove their family’s innocence.
Now, there is a lot that happens within this high concept film, and instead of writing it down word-for-word, I highly encourage everyone to check it out when it is available again in streaming.

Look in the Lasser Glass mirror, if you dare, and read the following breakdown:

Dear reader, you may know by now that there is absolutely nothing I enjoy more than forcing my loved ones to watch my favorite movies with me, and this is beyond a doubt included. I had the utmost pleasure of watching this film with my partner in hopes of vicariously experiencing it again for the first time and boy did it not disappoint. What made the experience especially satisfying was the fact that during the entire film, my partner believed that the mirror was not possessed and that Kaylie was making it all up. Of course as the film enters the third act and both timelines of what happened to Tim and Kaylie in the past and present begin to overlap, it becomes more and more apparent that this unfortunately is not the case. However, Mike does an excellent job at presenting this alternative narrative as a possibility through Tim’s character by constantly throwing in doubt into the deeply rooted beliefs that Kaylie has regarding the mirror’s entity.

Another interesting juxtaposition is the role-reversal that happens within the siblings' desperate attempt to survive. When they are children and are placed in the impossible situation of having increasingly violent parents, Kaylie is shown as being the responsible, level-headed older sister who is committed to keeping her brother safe. It’s her that realizes that the mirror has caused both of her parents to become insane and capable of severely harming them and who sets her mind to destroy it. (This need for the mirror’s destruction never goes away and becomes the driving force into why adult Kaylie is so eager to create a plan and exact vengeance for her broken family) However, when they are adults, Tim is often presented as the voice of reason, urging Kaylie to walk away from the mirror for fear of their mental and physical health. As best as Tim tries to leave their old house, the mirror is able to trick Kaylie again and again into staying where they are, which ultimately leads to her death and another wrongful conviction of Tim. (Boy, does this mirror really love throwing Tim in jail)

Which brings me to one of my most favorite characteristics of our doomed protagonist - the concept of hubris. Kaylie is so driven and at times blinded by her need for vengeance that she creates an almost fool-proof plan. During her recorded presentation, she is so confident that her plan will allow her to destroy the mirror, that she doesn't consider that the mirror could possibly outsmart her and Tim. Nor does she consider that the mirror could trick her to do the unspeakable and stand in front of the weighted anchor  (that just so happens to be at the perfect height to penetrate her throat…You really couldn’t have raised up the anchor by six inches? It would have still destroyed the mirror…just saying). It’s her need to control everything and failure to accept that they may be way in over their heads (get it?) that leads to both her and her fiance's untimely death. And while her plan is admirable, it also helps to set the scene for how the mirror is able to incite various emotions, for her it’s frustration and anger that leads to her slowly breaking down her own precautions.

This film also touches on one of my favorite concepts within the horror genre - monstrous motherhood. Throughout the movie, the mom is unfortunately turned into a bloodthirsty, broken down version of herself due to the influences of the mirror. And is later released by her husband with the intent of attacking their two children, only to be shot by her husband in a horrible redemption attempt to save them. It’s not until the end of the film that we are able to see their mother restored to her former glory via mirror hallucination that causes Kaylie to stand right in front of it, shielding it from her most deadly precaution, the weighted anchor.

And finally, one of the things that makes this movie so gosh darn good in my mind is the final moment of redemption. So I think we can all pretty much agree that Alan under the influence of the mirror sucks right? Poor guy honestly didn't have much of a fighting chance once the mirror chose to seduce him by appearing as Marisol (who of course is played by Mike Flaganan’s now wife). What truly makes this movie great in my opinion is that during the final moment of the film, there is literally nothing that the kids can do or run to and their father, Alan, breaks from the mirror’s hold for a second, (or who knows, maybe the mirror lets him escape for a second) and tells Tim to run before pulling the loaded gun to shoot himself. As noble as this act is, it of course leads to Tim spending the next 11 years in a correctional facility, but hey, that’s besides the point.

Now onto the mirror spooky spooks:

The mirror uses the physical form of it’s last victims. For example, the kids and the dad see a pale woman with a bloodied dress who we later learn is Marisol, the latest victim, which is later explained by adult Kaylie during her exposition speech. Then adult Kaylie and Tim are chased by the ghostly versions of their father and mother since they were the last to die because of the mirror’s entity. Therefore, we as the audience never truly know what possesses the mirror or its origins.

Only the kids see the ghostly entity purely as a physical manifestation and are able to run away from it. Therefore the mirror can only truly trick the minds of a fully mature adult human. There are only a couple instances when the mirror does trick the children i.e. when the children think that they are hitting it with their golf clubs, only to reveal that they had actually been striking the wall around it and later when they are trying to call for help only to hear the same voice on the other line. But there are only a few mind-trick instances that take place during the flashback scenes with the children.(That we know of, of course) It’s not until Kaylie and Tim return as adults that the mirror is able to play more elaborate mind tricks on them, such as making them move the cameras without them having any memory of doing so, or the infamous apple-lightbulb scene that will never fail to terrify me. (If nothing else, then this scene alone is worth watching the movie cause it is downright NASTY)

I’m sure you can tell by now, dear reader, just how passionate I am about this film (and about just about anything that Mike Flanagan does, I will support it no questions asked). If there is anything that I missed during this extra long break-down please let me know, I am curious to read different perspectives and see if there is anything that I may have missed.

Mind-fuckery rating: 5/5
Extravagant bangs: 5/5
Hubris: 5/5

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