Mirror, mirror on the wall.... Aiiiieee!!!

jjohnson@sph.com.sg

Oculus looks scary.

Very, very scary indeed.

In fact, the trailer is so scary that I think I might be too afraid to see the whole movie, which opens here on April 24.

The story is about this brother (Brenton Thwaites) and sister (Karen Gillan) who watched their father kill their mother.

Then the brother kills the father.

The sister thinks that this whole mess was caused by an evil mirror in their house, and after her brother - now a grown man - is finally released from a mental hospital, she sets out to prove the mirror's guilt.

The thing I find really scary about Oculus is that it deals with human craziness, the capacity we all possess to do unspeakably horrible things.

In fact, it looks like one of those films that can make you question your own sanity.

You're watching and thinking, 'Is this movie crazy, or am I?'

Aaaaiiiieeee!!!

Why does the husband kill the wife?

Is it because of the weird mirror?

Or is it because sometimes people just snap?

Frankly, the second option is much more frightening.

Oculus is produced by the same guys who did Paranormal Activity and Insidious, which are also haunted house films.

They also happen to be two of the most disturbing movies I've ever seen, and if I hadn't had to watch them as part of my job as a movie reviewer, I wouldn't have come within a mile of them.

The really nasty thing about these sorts of films is that they take that one space - our home, where we're supposed to feel safe and secure - and turn it into a nightmare.

If you can't feel safe in your own house, with your own family, then there is truly nowhere to hide.

The paranormal elements in these films seem to be secondary.

MALICIOUS ENTITIES

The spooks and devils and assorted malicious entities are scary in and of themselves, but they are scarier in how they affect those humans who come in contact with them.

When it comes right down to it, there's really nothing as frightening as people.

Every day in the news, we see what we're capable of.

We all know very well what darkness lurks in our own hearts.

History is, as the great Sting says, a catalogue of crime.

This is basically the reason I'll always prefer movies about vampires, witches, werewolves, Godzilla and Mothra.

They're not as terrifying as we are.

If you're into spine-chilling, blood-curdling, hair-raising pictures, you won't want to miss this.

As for me, I'll be curled up in bed watching Teen Wolf re-runs.

Those lycanthropes are just so cuddly.