History Film / Oculus

* SharedMassHallucination: What Tim tries to write off the past as. In a case of RealityEnsues, this is portrayed as being as dumb as it sounds and Kaylie calls him out on it.

* InfantImmortality:

** Averted in the mirror's backstory. Most of the victims were adults, but one killed her children.

--> See the mirror hanging there. Face of silver, frame of black. Oculus of glass, I stare. I can feel you staring back. I hear your voice, believe your lies. A window, portal, darkened door. Should you claim my staring eyes, my soul you hold forevermore.\\

%% * YankTheDogsChain: The Mirror seems to delight in doing this.

%% * BodyHorror: The mirror tends to do this to its victims.

%% * ArtifactOfDoom: The mirror is evil.

%%* CrazyPrepared
* DiabolusExMachina:
** Kaylie's overarching plan is to record the actions of the mirror so as to prove that it's supernatural. For this plan to work, it's made to be that digital video reveals what actually is there or what actually happens. [[spoiler: Note, however, that there are three cameras in the room. One clearly shows that both protagonists were in the room, since the police comment on the resulting video. Yet Tim taking even a single glance at the mirror from the timer's dial would require him to look directly at one of the monitors directly connected to the cameras. Where he would then see Kaylie standing there and prevent her from being in front of the mirror.]]
** The Lasser Glass may not be able to alter the camera footage, but it ''can'' apparently alter a person's perception of that footage, as shown when Kaylie looks at the shards of the smashed plant pot through her cell phone, and sees nothing, believing the shards are an illusion [[spoiler: and leading her to possibly fatally stab her fiancé. Tim may have looked dead into the monitor, but the mirror didn't let him see Kaylie standing there.]]

%% * MadWomanInTheAttic: The mother ends like this before dying.
%% * MagicMirror: The BigBad.

%% * EldritchAbomination: While mundane looking, the mirror might be counted as this considering all the things it does.

* IAmNotLeftHanded: Kaylie sets up a kill switch on an anchor to destroy the mirror any time they're ready, noting that because it isn't electrical, the mirror can't mess with it. [[spoiler: Several times it's apparent that the mirror has the power to stop things from hitting it, but it only becomes evident when Tim and Kaylie (as their childhood selves) run at it with golf clubs, only to find their every blow hitting the wall next to it.]]

%% * SharedMassHallucination: What Tim tries to write off the past as.

Eleven years later, Kaylie Russell (Karen Gillan) recruits Tim (Creator/BrentonThwaites), recently released from the asylum, to help prove the mirror's power and then destroy it. She believes it caused the deaths of their parents and scores of other people over the past three centuries. Tim's version of past events differs, offering a more realistic view of their childhood trauma.

In 2002, the Russell family moves into a new home, buying an antique mirror called the Lasser Glass for some new decor. Parents Marie (Creator/KateeSackhoff) and Alan (Rory Cochrane) begin to behave increasingly oddly, and the family is soon shattered when young son Tim is accused of killing his father.

* ArtifactOfDoom: The mirror is evil.

* BodyHorror: The mirror tends to do this to its victims.
* CassandraTruth: The neighbor Kaylie brings sides with the father.

* ClearTheirName: Kaylie's motivation.

* EldritchAbomination: While mundane looking, the mirror might be counted as this considering all the things it does.

** [[spoiler: Played straight. However, children eventually become adults...]]

* MadWomanInTheAttic: The mother ends like this before dying.
* MagicMirror: The BigBad.

* MirrorScare: But of course.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Kaylie's fiancé, though it is ambiguous if he actually showed up or not.
* PaterFamilicide: What kicks off the plot is it being attempted by Kaylie and Tim's father.

* SharedMassHallucination: What Tim tries to write off the past as.

* YankTheDogsChain: The Mirror seems to delight in doing this.

In 2002, the Russell family moves into a new home, buying an antique mirror called the Lasser Glass for some new decor. Parents Marie and Alan begin to behave increasingly oddly, and the family is soon shattered when young son Tim is accused of killing his father.

''Oculus'' is a 2013 psychological/supernatural horror film directed by Creator/MikeFlanagan(''Film/{{Absentia}}'') and starring Creator/KarenGillan (''Series/DoctorWho'') in their mainstream film debuts.

''Oculus'' is a 2013 psychological/supernatural horror film directed by Mike Flanagan (''Film/{{Absentia}}'') and starring Creator/KarenGillan (''Series/DoctorWho'') in their mainstream film debuts.

* SkepticNoLonger: The psychological terror to a very great extent relies on the conflict of belief between the Tim and Kaylie: Tim is skeptical of the mirror's supernatural powers, while Kaylie is not. Tim first channels the rationalizing explanations of academic psychology but is forced to revise his explanations in the face of overwhelming evidence later in the film.

* TooDumbToLive: Kaylie, instead of just leaving it alone or at [[NoNonsenseNemesis deciding to take it out back and take a sledgehammer to it]], instead decides to try and catch it while it's exerting it's supernatural abilities. Unfortunately for her, said exerting happens to involve her and her loved ones. [[spoiler: It doesn't end well.]]

** [[spoiler: it may have just gotten away when it ran out the door.]]

** [[spoiler: it may have just gotten away when it ran out the door.]

* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: [[spoiler: Kaylie dies.]]

* DiabolusExMachina: Kaylie's overarching plan is to record the actions of the mirror so as to prove that it's supernatural. For this plan to work, it's made to be that digital video reveals what actually is there or what actually happens. [[spoiler: Note, however, that there are three cameras in the room. One clearly shows that both protagonists were in the room, since the police comment on the resulting video. Yet Tim taking even a single glance at the mirror from the timer's dial would require him to look directly at one of the monitors directly connected to the cameras. Where he would then see Kaylie standing there and prevent her from being in front of the mirror.]]

* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler: Played straight. However, children eventually become adults...]]

* GenreSavvy: Kaylie is fully aware of what the mirror is capable of, and takes every precaution she can think of to outsmart it: [[spoiler: they end up not being enough]]
** Building the kill switch on an automated, analog system instead of electrical to ensure the mirror can't manipulate it.
** Having plants stationed at measured intervals to measure the mirror's influence (it kills plants and animals).
** Three independent cameras pointed at the mirror to record its actions.
** Backup, battery-powered lanterns to light everything when the main power is shut off.
** Setting up an hour-by-hour call from her significant other with the provision that if she doesn't respond to call the police to her location.
** Multiple alarm clocks to remind them to eat, drink and stay focused.
** When Kaylie realizes that she is falling prey to the mirror's influence, her immediate action is to tell her brother that they need to stick together (though they don't actually do so).

* InvincibleVillain: A common complaint leveled at the film is that [[spoiler:all of the characters' precautions ultimately prove ineffective by the end.]] Considering how Lovecraftian the movie is, this actually seems appropriate.

Eleven years later, Kaylie Russell (Karen Gillan) recruits Tim, recently released from the asylum, to help prove the mirror's power and then destroy it. She believes it caused the deaths of their parents and scores of other people over the past three centuries. Tim's version of past events differs, offering a more realistic view of their childhood trauma.

* WhateverHappenedToTheMouse: "Dog" never returns. [[spoiler:Although given what Kaylie was trying to use it for, it's possible it got "eaten" and the mirror made them think that Tim let it go]].

* TooDumbToLive: Kaylie, instead of just leaving it alone or at [[NoNonsenseNemesis deciding to take it out back]] [[KillItWithFire and torch it]], instead decides to try and catch it while it's exerting it's supernatural abilities. Unfortunately for her, said exerting happens to involve her and her loved ones. [[spoiler: It doesn't end well.]]

* TooDumbToLive: Kaylie, instead of just leaving it alone or at [[NoNonsenseNemesis deciding to take it out back]] [[KillItWithFire and torch it, instead decides to try and catch it while it's exerting it's supernatural abilities. Unfortunately for her, said exerting happens to involve her and her loved ones. [[spoiler: It doesn't end well.]]

* EvilPhone: The mirror can mess with phones this way. The last time, it sounds like it's chanting something that sounds like something from the CthulhuMythos.

* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:In the most horrific way possible. If the thing in the mirror is real, it's going to have a new home soon.]]

* UnreliableNarrator: The film introduces the mirror from Kaylie's perspective, which is that it's a supernatural RealityWarper. Tim, however, offers a mundane explanations for what happened during his childhood with Kaylie, and uses psychology to explain Kaylie's memories of supernatural events.

* WhateverHappenedToTheMouse: "Dog" never returns. [[spoiler:Although given what Kaylie was trying to use it for, it's possible it got "eaten" and the mirror made them think that Tim let it go.]]