I mean this honestly, truly, and the most appropriate sense of the word: whoops. Just about nothing in this film worked for me, down to the foley done in post. I have a laundry list of reasons why this film really didn't gel with me, but I'll mostly let my rating speak for itself.
Aside from one thing I just need to say: horror has a tenuous relationship with mental illness. It's a historic tie and link going back a long, long time. But what Oculus does that feels so particularly stinky to me is a similar issue that I have with every project I've seen from Flanagan: it exploits that illness after deliberately attempting to be empathetic towards it. Example: in Doctor Sleep, Dan is a recovering alcoholic. The entire story, really, is an allegory for recovering from addiction. And in that film, there's a moment where a character goes to pour himself a drink to take the edge off...and it's played as a joke. In a movie that wants you to believe it's empathetic towards addiction.
The entirety of Oculus forces one of its main characters to relive his trauma, the trauma that got him sent to a mental institution for eleven years. He's only released after he's declared healthy by his doctor. And immediately he is meant to go back through the same treatment by force only for him to end up right where he started, this time likely without any chance of ever being released. It suggests to the viewer (and particularly to those struggling with mental illness) that no matter how much time, money, and effort you pour into getting healthy you will never be able to escape that illness. You will relapse. And let me be very, very clear: that is a terrible thing to tell people.
Review by filmboicoleBlockedParentSpoilers2020-09-04T15:17:52Z
I mean this honestly, truly, and the most appropriate sense of the word: whoops. Just about nothing in this film worked for me, down to the foley done in post. I have a laundry list of reasons why this film really didn't gel with me, but I'll mostly let my rating speak for itself.
Aside from one thing I just need to say: horror has a tenuous relationship with mental illness. It's a historic tie and link going back a long, long time. But what Oculus does that feels so particularly stinky to me is a similar issue that I have with every project I've seen from Flanagan: it exploits that illness after deliberately attempting to be empathetic towards it. Example: in Doctor Sleep, Dan is a recovering alcoholic. The entire story, really, is an allegory for recovering from addiction. And in that film, there's a moment where a character goes to pour himself a drink to take the edge off...and it's played as a joke. In a movie that wants you to believe it's empathetic towards addiction.
The entirety of Oculus forces one of its main characters to relive his trauma, the trauma that got him sent to a mental institution for eleven years. He's only released after he's declared healthy by his doctor. And immediately he is meant to go back through the same treatment by force only for him to end up right where he started, this time likely without any chance of ever being released. It suggests to the viewer (and particularly to those struggling with mental illness) that no matter how much time, money, and effort you pour into getting healthy you will never be able to escape that illness. You will relapse. And let me be very, very clear: that is a terrible thing to tell people.