Whilst the film doesn't really bring anything remarkable to the table, what it does have going for it is a nice line in low-budget psychological horror that trumps the CGI visual effects market any day of the week. The plot is told partly in the present day and partly in flashback, expertly flitting between the two without pause for breath. Focusing on two siblings, Tim (Brenton Thwaites) and Kaylie (Karen Gillan), the shared childhood trauma of seeing their mother murdered by their father has haunted them both for eleven years - however, in true buddy-cop style, one of them is the gung-ho hothead out for vengeance, the other a voice of reason (fresh out of a mental hospital, no less). In a likeable twist it's Kaylie who's the strong-willed one of the two (continuing a nice trend for hardy women in horror films - see last year's You're Next for further evidence), hell-bent on proving that it's the antique mirror their family acquired that drove their father to kill. Having 'borrowed' the mirror after tracking it down at auction, Kaylie brings it back to the house of their youth along with an elaborate iMac-fuelled camera setup, temperature monitors and a 40lb weighted yacht anchor set to destroy the mirror, though not before she's captured the proof she wants on video tape. Unsurprisingly, Tim's convinced she's distorted the facts to fit her own story in a way that should really have seen her put under medical supervision, not him.
Of course things play out and it turns out that Kaylie was right all along, but the film takes us to the halfway mark before even hinting that this could all be supernatural, as opposed to the overblown fantasies of a somewhat disturbed child. In a simple use of the classic 'let's film events in case something weird happens' setup, the siblings re-enter the mirror'd room after a heated exchange of words, only to see their tech completely rearranged without them having touched a thing. Rewinding the tapes, it shows both of them mid-argument doing all the rearranging themselves, and the dawning realisation that the mirror may just have something to do with it. It's a simple scene yet it proves that the best moments in horror films rarely come from blood and guts strewn across the camera lens; it's carefully-controlled rug-pulling that can unnerve an audience way better than any severed arm or winged demon.
There's plenty of other cinematic touchstones that the film makes knowing reference to, The Shining being the obvious example (Rory Cochrane's unravelling father is a chilling presence for much of his screen time). The mother of the two children (Katee Sackhoff) also bears more than a passing resemblance to Belén Rueda, making you wonder how influenced writer-director Mike Flanagan has been by the brace of Spanish horrors that have graced our screens of late: The Orphanage, Julia's Eyes (both starring Rueda), Sleep Tight, Mama (okay that one's Spanish-Canadian, but still). You can bet your bottom dollar this if this film was in Spanish with English subtitles, it'd be getting its fair share of art house praise. As it stands, it's American with an ex-Doctor Who actress in it, and will likely NOT be the next big film at your local independent. But don't let that put you off - Oculus may not rewrite the genre rulebook, but it's got enough deft tricks up its dirty reflective sleeve to warrant your attention.
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