Oculus
Relativity Media | Release Date: April 11, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
9
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
IndieWireEric KohnApr 10, 2014
In Oculus, the horror is at once deceptively simple and rooted in a deep, primal uneasiness. Its scariest aspects are universally familiar. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleApr 10, 2014
Less concerned with fake shocks and show-me violence than the grimly calibrated rotting of personalities, Oculus is one of the more intelligently nasty horror films in recent memory. Read full review
90
Village VoiceNick SchagerApr 8, 2014
Replete with superb performances led by a paranoid Sackhoff and unhinged Cochrane, it's the rare horror film to know how to tease malevolent mysteries and deliver satisfyingly unexpected, unsettling payoffs. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperApr 10, 2014
Oculus is one of the more elegant scary movies in recent memory. Read full review
83
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanApr 10, 2014
Like many horror directors, Flanagan felt he could build a feature-length film around his brief idea. Unlike many, he was right. Read full review
83
The PlaylistDrew TaylorMar 10, 2014
It's easily the scariest movie since "The Conjuring," and in some ways is a deeper and more satisfying film. It's stylish but not showy, more concerned with the thematic undercurrents coursing just beneath the surface. Read full review
82
Film.comJames RocchiApr 9, 2014
It’s clean, lean and smart. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliApr 14, 2014
For a horror movie, Oculus is surprisingly lean on the scares. It's more interested in playing tricks with perception and bending reality. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanApr 10, 2014
Oculus director Mike Flanagan has crafted a satisfyingly old-fashioned ghost story that, in its evocation of shivery dread, is the most unnerving poltergeist picture since “The Conjuring.” Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigApr 10, 2014
Unsettling and well-acted story. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickApr 10, 2014
Like the similar, and slightly superior, "The Conjuring" last summer, Oculus eschews the buckets of gore common to R-rated horror movies and takes a relatively subtle, psychological approach — even if the somewhat disappointing ending leaves the door open for a sequel (or three). Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeApr 9, 2014
The story's conclusion benefits from a closure that is satisfying despite — and even because of — its predictability. Read full review
70
VarietyDennis HarveyMar 10, 2014
Cleverly complex, if not quite as scary or memorable as one might have hoped. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Apr 9, 2014
The derivative evil-mirror potboiler Oculus doesn’t exactly shatter the clichés of the genre, but it does distort them in a couple of interesting ways, beginning with a creative reversal of the usual vengeful-spirit plot. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Adam NaymanApr 10, 2014
How do you get revenge on an inanimate object? That’s the quandary facing the characters in Oculus, a deeply silly and mildly effective horror movie. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreApr 9, 2014
Oculus earns its frights the old fashioned way — with convincingly traumatized characters, with smoke and with mirrors. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezApr 5, 2014
Through a mini-triumph of montage, what begins as run-of-the-mill backstory vomit is thrillingly repackaged as an almost-Lynchian duet between warring states of consciousness. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottApr 11, 2014
Oculus is a time bomb of a psychological horror film. Read full review
60
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergApr 10, 2014
A derivative but efficient chiller that cribs from “Solaris,” “The Shining” and “The Amityville Horror” yet also shows glimmers of imagination. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoApr 11, 2014
Oculus eventually becomes little more than a series of ghostly figures and twisted visions on its way to a cop-out of an ending that you'll see coming an hour away. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezApr 10, 2014
One of the problems with director Mike Flanagan’s occasionally involving but ultimately dull thriller is that the whole movie hinges on a reflective piece of glass. Read full review
50
Boston GlobePeter KeoughApr 10, 2014
At its best, it delves into the murky areas of memory, childhood trauma, and family conflict. But it forgoes such troubling issues for mumbo jumbo and glowing-eyed wraiths. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchKevin C. JohnsonApr 10, 2014
The flashbacks, which get almost as much screen time as the present day story, are far more compelling. Read full review
50
The DissolveKeith PhippsApr 10, 2014
Oculus takes a potentially corny premise further than most could, but it keeps stumbling on the possibilities, never quite taking any of them all the way. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyApr 9, 2014
Unless you’re Billy Bob Thornton, old furniture just isn’t all that scary. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovApr 9, 2014
Oculus never quite resolves into the image of horror it clearly wishes to be. Kudos, though, to cinematographer Michael Fimognari and score composers, the Newton Brothers – all of whom provide a fertile audiovisual background for Flanagan’s film. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinApr 11, 2014
One reason Oculus feels so talky and monotonous in spite of its tricky syntax is that the space itself isn’t charged with malignancy. And the monster doesn’t compensate — it’s dumb, blockish, inert. The mirror doesn’t have two faces. It barely has one. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierApr 10, 2014
The result: a dangerously cracked creep flick. Read full review
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