Oculus—One Cloudy Film

The gals from Archer Paranormal Investigations (API) took in the film Oculus Saturday night. Many, many words come to mind now that I have properly reflected upon it, and none of them are the words “Good,” “So-So,” or even “Marginal.” This movie was horrible.

There were only two things I liked about the movie: the eerie music and “Dog.” Spoiler Alert: The only saving grace was that the dog was released half way through. I wished that I too was released then. I kept looking at my cell phone to see how much longer the pain would continue. The mediocre storyline could have been overcome with less flash backs. The lady down from me kept saying how confused she was. I wasn’t confused. I was bored.

Prior to the screening, I was concerned that the movie would be too graphic and gruesome. There was one bug-out scene where the adult Kaylie, played by Karen Gillan, mistakenly eats an abnormally large, round light bulb thinking it was an apple. (And the hairdresser should be shot for styling her hair that way, just saying.) Other than that, the horror factor was low. And that would be okay if the director played upon our psyche. He did not. Instead he kept rotating the flashback scenes with present day trying to confuse the viewer. There are so many holes in the plot. Why weren’t the kids in school? What neighbor walks a pre-teen child back without calling 9-1-1? Who has a tattoo on her arm in 2002? How does a mother who never leaves the house really believe her husband is having an affair in his home office? None of this makes sense. Then add an expensive mirror with ties to royalty. How on God’s green earth did this family afford it? It was too distracting to try and reconcile all of this and still watch.

In the end no one won. And that’s a cinematic problem. The protagonist always wins. That’s the formula. That’s what makes the genre work. Instead one dies and the other is remanded back into custody. The movie ends with an obvious desire for a sequel. Pass.