Film Review: ‘Oculus’ Succeeds Psychologically, Fails Supernaturally

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CHICAGO – Films in general are knocked for being knockoffs of something else. Horror films in particular have it especially hard in the “new” department because we’re so quickly annoyed when we’ve “seen it all before”.

There are only so many ways to alter how you draw a circle. At the end of the day, you’ve still drawn a circle and the only difference is how you got there.

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 3.0/5.0
Rating: 3.0/5.0

“Oculus” starts with promise because Jason Blum is attached to it. Blum’s production company, Blumhouse Productions, is responsible for so many Hollywood horror films as of late that it’s impossible for your concept of horror in the past decade not to be impacted by him.

Just to name a few, we’re talking about “Paranormal Activity” (2007), “Paranormal Activity 2” (2010),” “Paranormal Activity 3” (2011), “Sinister” (2012), “Paranormal Activity 4” (2012), “The Purge” (2013)”, “Insidious: Chapter 2” (2013), “Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones” (2014) and now “Oculus”. And 2014 and 2015 already have “The Purge: Anarchy,” “Paranormal Activity 5,” “Amityville” and “Insidious: Chapter 3” en route.

StarRead Adam Fendelman’s full review of “Oculus”.

While Blum has no problem releasing films, that doesn’t mean their effectiveness isn’t waning. Perhaps it isn’t his fault that some are hits while others are misses. Rather, it’s more a factor of him oversaturating the market and his own production company that’s so influential in shaping it.

From 2007 through today, the first “Paranormal Activity” and “Sinister” were the most revolutionary and scary. But none of them remember what used to be effective about classic horror films such as “Psycho” (1960), “The Birds” (1963), “The Exorcist” (1973), “Carrie” (1976), “Alien” (1979), “The Shining” (1980) and even more recently “The Ring” (2002).

“The Birds” is a perfect example because it took something simple that people are actually afraid of – birds – and wrapped them inside a terrifying story. Even if you weren’t previously afraid of birds, the increasing viciousness of the real-life plot device instills plenty of fear in you and even makes you think twice about them long after.

“Oculus” stars Katee Sackhoff, Karen Gillan, Rory Cochrane, Annalise Basso, Garrett Ryan, Brenton Thwaites, James Lafferty, Miguel Sandoval, Kate Siegel, Scott Graham and Katie Parker from writer and director Mike Flanagan and writer Jeff Howard. The 105-minute film is rated “R” for terror, violence, some disturbing images and brief language. It opened on April 11, 2014.

StarContinue for Adam Fendelman’s full review of “Oculus”.

Katee Sackhoff stars in Oculus
Katee Sackhoff stars in “Oculus”.
Photo credit: John Estes, Lasser Productions

StarContinue for Adam Fendelman’s full review of “Oculus”.

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