Oculus (2013-14)

If you don't want to read it all:
Score: 7/10
Verdict: It really is hard to make a good and memorable horror movie and this one is quite satisfying.

Listen to the dog. Always listen to the dog! Seriously, if you have a dog and it gets hostile towards anything in the world - just listen to the wise animal and stay away from it! They obviously have a superpower to sense evil while humans have their own power... to ignore it and put themselves into grave danger. So just... listen to the dog.

Horror movies are something special. Most of the people actually don't like them in general because they don't like to be scared (I may be wrong though and this might be correct for the country I live in; when I was in United States I found out that scaring little children and horror in general is absolutely normal and even welcome), but those that do are usually BIG fans. I personally like horrors because they are almost always tied to some myths and fantasy and that is something I like by default. In the same time, making a good horror movie is the most futile thing in the movie industry. 50 or 80 years ago it was a piece of cake and people would be scared of just about anything that was not an every day thing, but last 20+ years have been a huge problem. I've seen a total of 4 horrors in last 2 years and this one feels the best, even though it's the worst rated one.

The story follows 21 year old Tim who has just been released from a mental institution. 11 years ago, he and his sister Kaylie survived a bloodshed in their house, a horror that claimed both their parents. They believe it was caused by a demonic entity "living" in an antique mirror that hung on the wall of their father's home office. Anyway, as soon as he leaves the institution, he meets his sister and she asks him to help her prove that it was indeed the mirror that caused all that. She got a hold of the mirror and moved it back to the house (she owns the house now), set up the cameras and is eager to document everything it does. The mirror, of course, has something else on it's "mind".

Even though it starts a bit slow, Oculus is very satisfying psychological thriller. Wait, it's not a horror? Well, some might call it a horror indeed, but I didn't really get scared while watching it. It shifts back and forth between the events that occurred 11 years ago (showing us what really happened back then) and now, with the mirror playing mind tricks on Tim and Kaylie. Oculus does not play the BOO card (accompanied with sudden sound effects) which is a good thing, I really got bored of those. Instead, it frightens you with the mere presence of evil and what it might do next. That is a nice change from today's standards, at least that's how it felt for me.

I mentioned I watched 4 horrors in the past 2 years. The remaining three are Drag Me to Hell (which I found stupid), The Conjuring (it was just so damn loud and overhyped, I didn't really like it. Or maybe I just expected too much) and The Devil (I liked this one!). 

Well that's it, enjoy the movie!