If you’re new to The Rebel MFA Way, welcome! This is an essay in my Trigger Warning Series — where I unpack and dive deep into the intersection of trauma and storytelling of film, tv, and fiction. I love having conversations around these topics, so share your thoughts in the comments!
Warning — there are spoilers for the film Oculus in this article.
Ah, another Mike Flanagan creation. I love knowing that whenever I go into one of his films or television series, I’m going to get some great material for essays like this one. He’s a master at taking trauma, unresolved emotions, and then cranking up the tension to 11 in his work. Oculus is no exception. So lets dive in.
The Trauma Line
Oculus starts 11 years after the death of Kaylie (Karen Gillan) and Tim’s (Brandon Thwaites) parents. While Tim has spent those years in a psychiatric hospital, Kaylie has been hunting down the “Lasser Glass,” an antique mirror with supernatural powers that she believes is responsible for the death of her parents and many more families from previous years.
When Tim is released from the psychiatric hospital, the siblings are finally reunited. But it’s not a warm or welcoming reunion. Tim, having years of psychotherapy under his belt, no longer believes that his parents murder was due to supernatural causes.
Though both Kaylie and Tim were present the night of the murders, they each have different recollections and memories of it. But more so, they each have a different understanding of the events leading up to the murders as well.
Kaylie, being the older and more observant one notices things about the house and her parents that seem concerning. And not just run of the mill parental concerns either. Her father’s erratic behavior and locking himself in his office for hours talking to someone… yet when the door is opened, no one is there. Their usual nurturing loving mother suddenly becomes convinced her husband is cheating on her and begins to ignore the children’s needs. But when both parents begin to appear out of control, Kaylie starts to see the parallels between the mirror and the timing and erratic-ness of her parents behavior serving as confirmation that her theory of the mirror has merit.
Tim, however, sees the events leading up to the murder and the murder itself as a tragic result of his unfaithful father and his mentally ill mother finally reaching a boiling point. As he was the one who had the gun pointed at his father (even though his father literally pushed the trigger) his time in the psychiatric hospital has convinced him that there wasn’t anything supernatural about that night. In fact, he wants Kaylie to consider that the mirror was merely their way of dealing with the trauma by constructing false memories. His “logical” belief is that they created these delusions of a supernatural mirror as a way to avoid accepting the reality that their parents relationship was dissolving into a violent and abusive marriage. Not only that — but he suggests that it may have been a sign of mental illness within the family… and it has been passed down to them.
This brings us into the crux of the plot of the story which is Kaylie’s determination to prove to her brother that the mirror is at fault for it all. As the two of them hole up in their childhood home… the home where the murders occurred, they begin a series of “tests” that Kaylie orchestrates.
These tests include keeping a dog in a cage in the same room as the mirror, adding freshly potted plants to the room, and rigging up a series of “fail-safes” to keep them protected (spoiler alert: this doesn’t matter much when you’re dealing with supernatural elements). The deeper they get into Kaylie’s “tests” the stranger and more sinister things become in the house until the delineation between past, present and reality blur together.
Okay, so now that I’ve given you the run down of the plot — let’s talk about the mirror for a bit.
Haunted mirrors are not a new concept. In fact, there are many cultures over many decades that have believe mirrors (or reflective surfaces) contain evil or can be considered gateways to another world. And I’m sure you can think of several stories that have a “haunted” mirror at the center of the plot (Snow White, Bloody Mary, The Candyman, etc) or other cultural superstitions about mirrors such as Ancient Roman beliefs.
As far as myths as metaphor goes — this is a pretty solid choice. In the film, Flanagan does a good job of making it seem like the mirror is engaging with its inhabitants insecurities. In one scene, the mother has an argument with the father and when she turns to leave, the mirror whispers in her husband’s voice, “grotesque cow.” She turns and looks in the mirror which reflects back to her a shifted and distorted version of herself.
In general though, I take the mirror to be a reflection/representation of fears. With the father, it seems to be his inability to separate business from family with his new career. At one point in the film he says,
I've met my demons and they are many.
Whether that’s the mirror talking or him in lucidity, we don’t know. But we do know that he has changed from the man at the beginning of the film. We are meant to wonder… is it the mirror or is it true feelings coming to the surface?
With the mother, her insecurities and beliefs around her philandering husband combined with the sense of going crazy seem to be the fear the mirror has latched onto. At first, the mother’s changes seem more cruel and intentional. Not only does she stop acting like the mother we’re introduced to, she becomes hell bent on killing her children.
But where the paths diverge is in the past, the kids seem to be immune to the mirror’s effect and see it for what it truly is.
Only as adults do they become embroiled in it’s supernatural web.
So the fear of repeating their parents mistakes… of feeling like the trauma they experienced was simply human behavior and not the impulses of people under direction of a mirror — is what the mirror feeds off in the adult versions of Kaylie and Tim.
What’s unique for this film in it’s treatment of trauma and the supernatural is how Flanagan subverts expectations. Throughout the film, we’re rooting for Tim to be correct, if only to know that they’re safe from the mirrors grasp, yet knowing that Kaylie is probably right. In the end, one might expect that the “crazy” is explained away and we are brought up to speed in reality.
That isn’t the case here. If anything, the shocking ending of this movie seems to be a statement that sometimes the unexplainable… the mysterious… the supernatural really is at play and can win. It says to us, “your trauma isn’t your imagination or some form of repression or false memories. Sometimes what you experience is real and terrifying and still… unexplainable.”
The Storytelling
As you probably already know, I LOVE Mike Flanagan and his storytelling. In Oculus, I think the technique he uses with the past/present timeline is done so well. It’s not just a way for us to get backstory (although that’s helpful) — what it really does is disorient us as viewers and puts us in the realm of the characters. As they walk through the house, memories flooding back only to come to reality and be confused is very much how we, the viewers, are meant to feel too.
Is it real? Is it imaginary? Is it the mirror? Is it mental illness?
As the characters are questioning everything, so are we.
There are also moments of subtle yet effective terror.
One scene in particular that totally shocked me was when adult Kaylie switches out a light bulb while eating an apple. She sets both down. She looks down and grabs the apple. But as she bites into it, we first hear the crunch of glass… and then it pans to her face where we see her blood filled mouth, the glass slipping out between her lips as she realizes what has happened.
Seconds later, her brother interrupts her and in her hand is an apple, sans blood.
It’s an extremely effective moment because the tension has been rising. The lines between reality and supernatural blurred.
Then there’s the penultimate scene where we think the siblings are going to win. They are going to get their happy ending. And… they don’t. Something much, much worse happens, instead.
This too is a diversion from a lot of horror films with the “final girl,” or the survivors. Flanagan does not make it easy on us and we watch as the mirror has the final scare.
Want to see what films could be up next for this series? Check out my Letterboxd account → https://boxd.it/pktaA