Before he was a master of horror as the creator of acclaimed limited series like “The Haunting of Hill House” and “Midnight Mass” and the director of multiple Stephen King adaptations, Mike Flanagan was just another hard-working indie filmmaker getting a shot at a slightly bigger budget for his second film. After drawing attention for his scrappy 2011 debut feature “Absentia,” Flanagan leveled up with 2013’s “Oculus,” an ingenious horror movie with a standout performance from Karen Gillan.

“Oculus” is a lot more streamlined than Flanagan’s later horror epics, but it indicates the level of talent and creativity he’d bring to those higher-profile projects, along with his ability to add a fresh perspective to familiar horror elements. I remember being unenthused at the prospect of another movie about a haunted mirror when I went to see “Oculus” in theaters, not being aware of Flanagan’s previous film.

There may not be anything new about the story of Russell siblings Kaylie (Gillan) and Tim (Brenton Thwaites) trying to destroy the cursed mirror that was responsible for the deaths of their parents, but Flanagan makes it feel exciting and immersive. With his TV-series version of King’s “Carrie” set to premiere in October on Prime Video, viewers can now look back to Flanagan’s filmmaking origins by streaming “Oculus” on Netflix.

One of the best sequences in “Oculus” features Kaylie manically laying out the centuries-long history of deaths associated with the mirror known as the Lasser Glass. But that presentation begins with her noting that the mirror’s origins are a mystery, and Flanagan and co-writer Jeff Howard aren’t interested in creating mythology for this cursed object, as so many horror movies feel obligated to do.

Source link