Great Film overall

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This is basically not a bad movie; it is interesting to watch, it keeps the tension, and there are some emotional scenes in it. But it suffers from major problems with logics and plot holes in a way which does not allow it to be a good movie. Shortly said, the script is so full of implausible turns, especially regarding the psychology of the characters, that the movie had no chance whatsoever to come out as a coherent and consistent story.Besides, I wonder how so many here call it a new and original story. The plot is as old as the world. A magical mirror is a motif best known from myths and fairytales. A family moving to a new home which soon becomes threatening in one or another way is an age-old story. The device of blending present and past, showing figures simultaneously as children and as grown-ups is nearly as old as the cinema itself. So what is new or original about this plot or this device?.. Neither the development oft he events nor the ending are surprising as well, they follow as expected under the given circumstances. And now to the script failures: in the first five minutes of the film, it is revealed to us that a young man has been released from a mental asylum where he has spent more than 10 years for murder. And here the problems start: This murder was out of self-defence - would a young boy ever be shut in a mental asylum for self-defence?? We are being told that he received psychological help, but his sister did not. How come that in modern days America a little girl who survived a family tragedy never received any psychological help?.. Now the story goes on with this same sister, taking her brother to the home of their parents almost immediately upon his release and confronting him with the evil mirror story. Would a loving and caring sister, which she is constantly shown like as child, upset his brother in such a brutal way just upon his release? Well, after all that has happened to them (you will see) she might not be the same loving and caring person any more. But the question still is: if you know from your own experience that the mirror is that evil , would you really risk staying tete-a-tete with it? Such problems spin further, on and on. It's a pity that today's script writers do not seem to care about credibility at all. It destroys many movies with good potential. Not to mention this film relies heavily on "Shining" but has nothing from Kubrick's masterpiece accurate, compelling plot and lead act genius.

The film actually offers very few scares and seems to make up the rules as it goes along. A detailed account of the mirror's whereabouts is given, but no explanation whatsoever about why and how the mirror became haunted. In the end everything seems imaginary.

As children Tim (Brenton Thwaites) and Kaylie's (Karen Gillan) parents were murdered. Tim was the trigger man who killed his dad, although the kids have a memory of a haunted mirror that controlled their family.Tim has had therapy and wants to move on and "protect his recovery" as he can now finally remember he pulled the trigger. Kaylie is compulsive obsessive and insists the mirror is to blame. She goes to great lengths to set up a controlled experiment to prove the mirror is the culprit. Tim is not eager. They have slightly different memories as to what happened.Their past is presented as a subplot. An hour into the film, you realize that there were things that went on in the household that might be misinterpret by children, yet at the same time there are things going on in the present that don't add up. Is it imagination? Insanity? Supplanted memory? Or is the mirror really haunted?The film combines several old themes to give us something that seems refreshingly new. Well done all the way around. Good horror build up.Parental Guide: Some muttered F-bombs. No sex or nudity.

Smart, scary & unpredictable for the major portion of its runtime, Oculus is a solidly crafted, skilfully executed & surprisingly effective entry in the world of horror that exquisitely handles its two storylines, makes superb use of available resources to establish an uneasy aura that reeks of mystery, dread & a sense of foreboding, and is thrilling, entertaining & more involving than your average horror flick.