Oculus 2013

Wesley Morris, Grantland: As far as competence goes, Oculus doesn't have so little as to be accidentally entertaining or enough to come close to working. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: "Oculus'' eschews the buckets of gore common to R-rated horror movies and takes a relatively subtle, psychological approach - even if the somewhat disappointing ending leaves the door open for a sequel (or three). Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: I found myself bothered by its repeated scenes of violence against young children, which are depicted with a disturbing realness; it's hard to be deliciously scared when you just don't want to watch. Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: Ocular succeeds in keeping the viewer's bearings unsettled as the helmer's effective building of dread curdles into a series of narrative twists as dislocating as an Escher-drawn staircase. Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: Oculus doesn't exactly shatter the cliches of the genre, but it does distort them in a couple of interesting ways, beginning with a creative reversal of the usual vengeful-spirit plot ... Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: Originally a 30-minute short, director Mike Flanagan and his co-writer Jeff Howard's thin scenario does not improve when expanded to feature length. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: Oculus, a cleverer-than-average haunted-house movie... speaks to a couple of widespread anxieties-one topical, the other sadly timeless. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Flanagan's a skillful director and editor, and simply by placing the camera in logical but unusual places ... the tension increases moment by moment, ghost by ghost, frightening reflection by reflection. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: "Oculus" is haunting because it messes with your head. That's where the ghosts are. Read more

James Rocchi, Film.com: Praised on the festival circuit, it's got what it takes to succeed outside of that rarefied atmosphere. Read more

John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter: Enjoyable ghost story makes good use of clashing perspectives. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: Less concerned with fake shocks and show-me violence than the grimly calibrated rotting of personalities, "Oculus" is one of the more intelligently nasty horror films in recent memory. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: As Oculus builds toward its gruesome (but not unexpected) finale, the characters get lost in a series of hallucinations and flashbacks that don't amount to much other than eat up screen time. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: It's just a little vague, a little familiar, a little fake. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: A dangerously cracked creep flick. Read more

Ben Kenigsberg, New York Times: The elegant use of wide screen can't totally obscure stiff acting, and the rug pulling finally seems arbitrary. When nothing can be trusted, the mirage of suspense disappears. Read more

Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: It's far more intelligent and haunting than most chillers these days, but near the end I kept wishing it would lighten up and be entertaining. Read more

Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer: What makes Oculus ingenious is how Flanagan and co-writer Jeff Howard take this hackneyed storyline and twist it - round 'n' round - ad infinitum into a dizzying corkscrew of a narrative. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: For a horror movie, Oculus is surprisingly lean on the scares. It's more interested in playing tricks with perception and bending reality. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: "Reaches right through you and chills you to the bone." Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Oculus is about one adjustment away from being a superior thriller. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Oculus" is not just a howling good horror film. It's a terrific film by any standard - a smart, character-driven, original hair-raiser that creeped the socks off me with no cheap scares. Read more

Kevin C. Johnson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: It's never actually scary. Read more

Adam Nayman, Globe and Mail: A deeply silly and mildly effective horror movie about two young-adult siblings coping with the mysterious deaths of their parents. Read more

Todd Gilchrist, TheWrap: Flanagan finds both humanity and horror in the story of two siblings who reunite to exorcise a possessed mirror, but the film's uneven metaphorical core and a decidedly incomplete mythology prevents "Oculus" from reflecting anything truly haunting. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: For all its genre delights, Oculus is little more than a well-tooled creepshow. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Logic aside, a mounting sense of dread permeates the film. Thankfully, suspense trumps blood and guts. Read more

Nick Schager, Village Voice: A cleverly executed mind game that generates scares via structural ingenuity, Oculus suggests a world coming terrifyingly unmoored from its bearings. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: What's missing? A sense of the ineffable. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: "Oculus" director Mike Flanagan has crafted a satisfyingly old-fashioned ghost story that, in its evocation of shivery dread, is the most unnerving poltergeist picture since "The Conjuring." Read more