Oculus: Chapter 3 - The Man with the Plan

THIS is what real inventive indie film-making is all about! Thanks to my connection to the horror review site KILLER REVIEWS.com (I'm a staff writer there), I had the privilege of finally seeing this. I'm still amazed at how much of it was based solely on building a sense of ever-increasing dread without so much as seeing a single limb hacked off and barely any blood at all!

Director Mike Flanagan reinforces the theory that still stands the test of time: it's not what you can see that really scares you, but what you CAN'T. Kudos as well to Scott Graham for a tremendous performance as a young man trying to solve the mystery of his parents' deaths and the connection the antique mirror (the focus of the story) has to what happened. No spoilers here, folks: if you haven't seen this yet at a local festival, hopefully you'll get the chance if this becomes part of a horror shorts collection in the future.

Mike Flanagan is definitely a director to watch, and Scott Graham is well on his way to following in the footsteps of great genre actors such as Jeffrey Combs and Bruce Campbell.

Outstanding first effort, and I hope to see MUCH more...

Can't rate it as I have only seen the trailer, but it looks phenomenal. I love the minimalism, and that Flanagan doesn't try to do more with effects than his budget allows. He seems to work well within his limitations, rather than trying to stretch beyond them, which might distract the viewer from the atmosphere he intends to create.

I need to find this on DVD, ASAP. Any suggestions?

I went to school with Scotty Graham. Best friend I ever had. When he becomes famous, I'll make him buy my silence on all sorts of drunken childhood exploits the two of us shared. Just kidding about the last part. He was my best man at my wedding. Really happy for him.

This is the short film which director Mike Flanagan made which was a precursor for his 2013 feature film starring Karen Gillan. Once again it is essentially about an antique haunted mirror. Given the short running time and low budget its perhaps not too surprising that this is a pretty minimalistic bit of work, which boils down to one man locking himself in a room set up with recording equipment in order to observe the fateful mirror. It is a bit limited given the basic set-up but Flanagan nevertheless manages to keep this involving enough, with several odd moments and some historical background on the deadly artefact.

PS: I have no idea why this is titled 'chapter 3', as there does not seem to be a chapter 1 or 2 that I am aware of!

My wife and I were lucky enough to happen upon a showing of this film at the Dragoncon film festival recently. I have been a huge fan of horror films and fiction since I was a young kid, and so did not expect to be remotely frightened by anything in the horror portion of the festival. I was almost right.

Mike Flanagan's outstanding film scared me more than anything that Hollywood has offered in many years. At the end of the 32 minutes that it ran, the audience let out an audible gasp because so many of us were holding out breaths. Any fright film fan will be thrilled to see that there are still truly gifted film makers out there who can scare the Hell out of you.

If you get a chance, see it. And when it becomes available on an anthology, buy it. You won't be disappointed.

How horror should be.

I was fortunate enough to view this prior to The Call of Cthulhu at the Leeds Film Festival in 2006 and to be honest, Oculus was better.

Goes to show that you don't need masses of blood and gore and elaborate sets to produce chilling horror.

I found myself holding my breath on more than one occasion as well as looking for a non-existent cushion to hide behind!

That's how good it is!

The acting was brilliant and it was really well written - the story will appeal to any fan that loves a spine-chiller.

Looking forward to other instalments and hoping to get this on DVD someday.