In 2006 Mike Flanagan directed the short movie Oculus: The Man with the Plan; now it’s time to give more space and a turning point in Tim Russell’s story with the exciting new horror Oculus (click for the trailer), soon in theaters.

In 2002 the Russell family moved into a new  house and, to celebrate, they diecided to buy some decor items. Among them there was a 300-year-old wall mirror hung in the home dad Alan’s office . Soon he was spending an inordinate amount of time locked in there, talking to a “lady”. When Alan started to manifest increasinglyand irrational behavior, his wife Marie started losing grip herself for an horrible result: two parents dead and two orphan children. After that, the 10-year-old Tim was sent to a juvenile mental institution.

Now, on the occasion of his 21st birthday, it is time for Tim’s (Brenton Thwaites, Maleficent)  to go home. He no longer believes an evil mirror possessed his parents; now he belive that his dad simply went nuts. His sister Kaylie (Karen Gillan, Doctor Who) has a fulfilled live that includes a good career and a lovely fiance (One Three Hill star James Lafferty (click for our article about him), Crisis (click for our review) and the new great indie movie Lost on Purpose [click for our review]) but, when she is finally reunited with her brother…Kaylie makes immediately clear that it’s time for the two of them to start the revenge she’s been planning from 10 years and to prove to the world that their parents were victims of this cursed piece of glass but…

The first act of the movie is a setup to introduce the new audiece in the Russell’s past story and world. The other two remaining acts are an head to head between Kalye and  the mirror.

We move between the past and the present for all the movie…adult Kaylie exits a room and young Kaylie comes out from it but it’s like if the two adult brothers are following the steps of theirselves just few years later and this slows down a bit the movie wasting slightly the suspense.

Kaylie’s plan is meticulous but of course, to move the action, it proves soon to be full of gaps and also in this case there are some lacks  in the script that, once again, drop the suspense.

It’s great to see the ghosts here are played by actors and any use of visual effects is kept invisible; the cast is great and, at the end, watching Oculus is a great nightmare, as it should be to watch a fine horror.

Oculus will be released in Italy on April 10, in USA on April 11 and in UK on June 13