Review: OCULUS

I'd read reviews for this movie on horror blogs and from other mainstream reviewers, so I had high hopes for OCULUS. The movie begins with a dream which always ticks me off, I hate when movies begin or end with a dream, it seems so cliche. The acting was well done, Karen Gillan was believable as Kaylie, putting aside those rumors that it would be hard to see her as anything besides Dr. Who's sidekick (for those of you who have seen her as Amy). And the children, especially Annalise Basso who plays young Kaylie were superb in creating the idea of scared and frightful children. However, like a bunch of recent films I didn't feel like there was enough of a back story. They state in the movie that no one knows where the deadly mirror came from, and it seemed like quite a cop out. Nor does the movie state how the family came into possession of the mirror, only being explained away by the husband saying to the wife, "You wanted some antiques to fill the house."

Horror wise the movie held few scares for me, it was more about discomfort, teeth being pulled or broken, fingernail issues, people eating things they shouldn't be eating, etc. I don't want to give away too much information. It tried to be more frightening than it was, ghosts stalking people, people being forced to do uncomfortable things, people hallucinating, but none of it really seemed to catch me, none of it made me jump. In fact the only thing that made me jump was the preview for a movie titled DELIVER US FROM EVIL before the movie. So while the acting was well done, I just don't think this movie lived up to the hype.