OCULUS | FAMILY MOVIE REVIEW INFORMATION FOR PARENTS AND KIDS

"OCULUS"
(2014) (Karen Gillan, Brenton Thwaites) (R)

QUICK TAKE:: Horror: A young woman sets out to prove that a centuries old mirror was responsible for the deaths of her parents more than a decade ago when she and her younger brother were just kids.

PLOT:

It's nearing Tim Russell's (BRENTON THWAITES) twenty-first birthday and he's about to be released from the mental hospital where he's been held for more than a decade. His twenty-three-year-old art auction house employee sister, Kaylie (KAREN GILLAN), picks him up, but is surprised that he'd rather stay in a hotel than in the home she shares with her fiancé, Michael (JAMES LAFFERTY). That stems from a family tragedy 11 years ago that claimed that lives of their parents, Marie (KATEE SACKHOFF) and Alan (RORY COCHRANE).

Having secured a four-centuries old ornate mirror that once resided in their father's office, Kaylie is determined to make Tim honor a promise they made together that fateful night more than a decade earlier. He's reluctant, not only from having treatment he believes has gotten him past that incident, but also because he's sure Kaylie is obsessively delusional in her belief that the mirror is a portal into the supernatural from which only death has emanated for the past 400 years.

She is positive that's true, however, and has set up an elaborate tech system in their old family home to record proof of that and thus clear their father's name in regards to what happened all of that time ago. With Tim initially still skeptical, we see flashback scenes when 10-year-old Tim (GARRETT RYAN) and 12-year-old Kaylie (ANNALISE BASSO) had no idea what was about to transpire upon the arrival of that mirror in their new home. As spooky stuff starts happening and their parents become progressively unhinged, it's all the kids can do to survive, all while their adult counterparts must contend with a return of the supernatural occurrences in the present.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: If they're into supernatural-based horror films, they might be interested.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R: For terror, violence, some disturbing images and brief language.

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