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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Horror Short Film -- 2006 Tabloid Witch Awards, April 25, 2007
[...]
Running at 32 minutes, OCULUS is a masterpiece of minimalist horror, using little more than one actor, a room, and a mirror to create a sense of unease that slowly builds into terror. Its story concerns occult researcher Timothy Alan Russel (played by Scott Graham) investigating a reputedly haunted mirror with both his high-tech paraphernalia (cameras, recorders, phones, alarms, IV tubes) and live subjects (a plant and a dog). But the mirror holds secrets that result in Russel's physical and mental deterioration over the course of the film.
Says director/co-writer Mike Flanagan, "I was disheartened that many modern horror trends lean more toward gross-out comedies than real horror. Once, drunk at a party, I said to [co-writer] Jeff Seidman that a competent director could make a truly frightening film without any genre requirements that Hollywood is leaning on these days. For instance, doing away with the over-the-top visuals and returning to the lesson of Jaws -- it's not what you see that scares you most, it's what you don't. And setting the film in a bright, sterile environment rather than in the overused and over stylized darkness and shadows. We got to talking about it, and once we hit on the 'one guy alone in a bright room' idea, we got real excited trying to make it scary."
Such a conceit relies heavily upon the actor playing that "one guy," and Flanagan was well served by Graham. "I'd worked with Scott Graham on my third feature, GHOSTS OF HAMILTON STREET," said Flanagan. "He was cast in that film via an open casting call in Baltimore and did a fantastic job. Knowing we wouldn't have much money for OCULUS, and not wanting to gamble on an actor I didn't know for such a crucial role, I told him it was his if he wanted it, and was willing to fly out to L.A. for a week."
The "bright room" was the back room of a Venice Beach coffee shop. "The owner was a freelance photographer and artist, and that was her studio," said Flanagan. "We found them through an ad on Craigslist and paid a very low rental rate for the four day shoot. It was a terrific spot, but not air conditioned. The temperature was a constant 110 degrees. [Note to aspiring filmmakers: film lights are hot!] And we had to stop shooting whenever they made espresso out front, and during peak business hours as we could hear the customers ordering coffee."
OCULUS builds much of it tension by incessantly and erratically altering our viewpoint of events, sometimes depicting events directly, sometimes through one of Russel's monitors. The technique also helps alleviate the potential monotony of seeing the same guy in the same room for a half hour.
"We shot on a Sony HDR-FX1 and the consumer cameras (all 1-chip DVs) that are set up in the room as props," said Flanagan. "Rather than cut directly to these consumer cameras' footage, I thought filming the monitors themselves would look more authentic."
Complementing OCULUS's multiple visuals is a layered soundtrack of alarms and ring tones, real and imagined, that bombard Graham as the mirror erodes his sanity. "Our sound was captured using a wireless lav mic under Scott's shirt and a boom on another channel as a backup," said Flanagan. "It was very thin, clean sound. All the other noises (alarms, phones, atmosphere, voices, etc.) were done in post, using a combination of the SmartSound, ambient library, and foley. The sound design took longer than the picture edit. Much longer."
Contributing to the production's hardships was its small crew. "The room was so small, we could only fit about three people in there at a time while shooting," said Flanagan. "I shot the film myself, not because I think much of myself as a DP, but because it was economical. The sound was tethered to the camera, and I watched the levels in the eyepiece for peaking. In retrospect, I wish I had a DP. This was the first time I've directed without one. I don't think I'll do that again."
And there will be another film. OCULUS is subtitled: "Chapter 3, The Man With The Plan." Explains Flanagan, "This short is just one installment of an anthology about the mirror. We outlined nine stories, of which this is the third. When it came to shoot, we looked for the story that'd be the most realistic for our budget and also best orient the audience to the 'legend' of the mirror. The idea is to shoot one 'Chapter' a year, and eventually combine the first three into a feature film."
Mike Flanagan graduated Towson University's film program in Baltimore. He has directed for ESPN, Discovery, and the National Lampoon Network's The Gleib Show. He's completed three feature films.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unrefined & Written well, March 16, 2009
Flanagan gets it. He gets pacing and structure. The common indicators of low-budget filmmaking are here but they don't detract (poor audio work and minimal set design) because of a compelling, well-written scenario and competent editing.
If you haven't checked "Oculus" yet, you're missing something.
I'm just sorry this talent doesn't have feature looming.
-C
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
30 minutes of Terror, May 18, 2007
Oculus: Chapter 3, Man with a Plan, a emarkable flm by Mike Flanagan, was one of the scariest movies I've seen in a long time. Without going into too much detail, the movie is about Tim Russel (Scott Graham) who believes a haunted mirror killed his parents. That is just the premise. It starts slow, but is alwasy constantly building. First it - the mirror - is brought in, and from the moment it arrives, things start getting weird.
The entire movie takes place in a white room, brightly lit. I mean, all of it. Every frame of footage is in this one room with one man talking to a triad of cameras and a mirror. I never thought that a "bright" horror movie would work, until I saw Oculus. Trust me when I say this; Oculus works better than most movies that come out of Hollywood.
There aren't a whole lot of "Black Cat" scares in the thing, other than a few well placed moments (Alarms anyone?), but the tension and suspense jsut keep building, and building. Not a lot is shown, which I think is a good thing because it heghtened the uncomfortable feeling. I actually found myself glancing away from the screen because I was afraid of what might show up.
Finally there is the opening monologue - hell, this whole movie was one long monologue. But the history of the movie told by Timothy scared me down to my socks.
This move was superbly acted, directed, and written. If you want to see something unique and scary, then watch this movie.
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