10 Slow Burn Horror Movies With An Underwhelming Pay Off

Despite coming from the brilliant mind of Mike Flanagan, supernatural mirror chiller Oculus nevertheless managed to fall off the rails right at the very end.

Told through two parallel timelines, the film follows siblings Kayley (Karen Gillan) and Tim (Brenton Thwaites) as they struggle to comes to terms with the death of their parents when they were children. Whereas Tim, who was sent to a psychiatric hospital after the tragedy, has come to believe that his parents’ deaths was the result of years of resentment and neglect, Kayley is adamant that their misfortune is the direct result of an antique mirror her father purchased.

No matter how convinced Kayley is of the mirror’s supernatural powers, though, Flanagan always leaves enough room to doubt her recollections. Consequently, Oculus becomes an effective meditation on trauma.

However, these ominous undertones are discarded as soon as this flick hit its climax when Tim, having been deceived by the mirror, inadvertently kills Kayley in the process.

With the swing of the blade, any doubt that the mirror wasn’t supernatural is gone, with all the nuanced, character-driven horror shattering along with it.

Had this film stuck to its guns, Oculus could've been a familial tale as provocative as Flanagan's other wors.