Mike Flanagan is definitely one of the most prominent horror directors working right now, and I've really liked the majority of his work. But one thing's for sure: he's not afraid to go dark, and for me, sometimes that works, and sometimes it doesn't.
Ironically, the one time I wished he'd gone darker, at least as far as endings goes, was with his Netflix miniseries version of The Haunting of Hill House. Its ending strayed from the original novel's enough that it came off as a happy one, which to me went against the story thematically, and frankly, kind of pissed me off.
Oculus is definitely on the dark side of the Flanagan spectrum, and, as is the case with much of his work, it deals with family, and coming face to face with the traumas of childhood. I won't go too deep into the story, but it centers on a brother and sister, their parents, who may have gone crazy, or may have been possessed, and an antique mirror that may be the key to it all.
The story bounces from the past to the present, as the adult sister (Karen Gillian, who is excellent) is convinced she can defeat the evil she's sure is responsible for her family's tragic past. Seeing her lay out her plan, and figuring out why it could work (and how it might not) is the fun part of the movie. The not so fun part is seeing her and her brother's younger selves tortured by their parents; that's a rough watch.
So, Oculus was a mixed bag for me. I really liked a lot of it, but the parts that were tough, were very tough, and ultimately it left me kind of bummed out! But I will say, of the two movies centered on possibly haunted mirrors I've seen this year, this is by far the better one.
I streamed Oculus on Prime Video.
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