MOVIE MUSINGS - The Oculus - You See What it Wants You To See

The Oculus is suppose to be a horror movie that may actually be more of a suspense thriller. It is based on a 32 minute short film made by writer/director Mike Flanagan. He basically reworked the story of his short film and expanded it out to create a feature length film.
The premise is that 11 years ago a family of four moved into a new house, purchased an antique mirror that they mounted in the dads home office, which began to influence him. Something along the lines of George Lutz in the Amityville Horror. A ghostly demon woman comes out of the mirror and begins haunting the family. The mom starts coming unraveled and drinking a lot. Mayhem and murder ensue. Mom and dad end up dead and the 10 year old son ends up in a loony bin. He is released on his 21st birthday and is reunited with his sister, who is now 23. She owns the old family house at this time and acquires the evil mirror. She wants her newly free brother to help her to destroy the haunted mirror, which she knows is not going to be an easy thing to accomplish. More mayhem and murder ensues.

The Good - Good cast! Karen Gillan, known for her time as a companion to Doctor Who (Amy Pond), is the lead character. Katee Sackhoff from Battlestar Galactica plays her mom, even though she is only 8 years older than the actress that plays her daughter. Rory Cochran from Dazed and Confused and CSI Miami is the dad, and they all do a fine job. The girl that plays the main character as a 12 year old is a very good actress and does a great job in her role. There is a very cool Easter Egg near the beginning of the movie. During a scene at an auction, the item that is put up for bid is said to be from "the Levesque collection." The Oculus is a WWE Entertainment Production and Triple H real name is Paul Levesque. How did I catch that? That's what I do. The story itself is pretty good and there are some creepy and atmospheric moments.

The Bad - I enjoy a nice slow burn horror movie but at times this sucker burns really slow. The pace almost comes to a standstill in places. Although I felt the story was good enough, the execution of the story was uneven and overall the movie falls short of its potential. The Oculus constantly cuts from present day to flashback and back again. Multiple times in a single scene they bounce you back and forth. It is just overdone and makes the whole thing hard to follow at times. Maybe this was the intention but it detracted from the flow, at least to this Creepy moviegoer. The start of the movie is very slow although is does pick up the pace about halfway through.

Conclusion - I found the Oculus to be an enjoyable movie just taking it for what it is. It didn't change my life, or alter the future of the horror and suspense genre, but it is a decent flick. Not overly scary, yet somewhat creepy. This is not a must see movie by any means, but is a decent diversion for a rainy Saturday.
I rate The Oculus at 3 haunted mirrors out of a possible 5.