50 Greatest Horror Movies Of The 21st Century

Plot: Two siblings (Karen Gillan and Brenton Thwaites) try to destroy the supernatural mirror that caused their mother's death when they were children. The film unfolds across both these timelines.

As soon as this movie arrived it seemed a foregone conclusion that whoever made it would go on to great things, and sure enough, director Mike Flanagan has become one of the most significant figures in 21st century horror.

With Oculus, Flanagan really showed his complete understanding of what makes a great horror film. Prioritizing an overwhelming sense of dread over cheap jump scares, brilliantly nasty psychological horror over gore, and complete with a tragic, chilling story that unfolds through some incredibly neat non-linear editing, this is exactly what psychological horror should be.

Even if the main characters could've used a bit more depth, this is still a very good work and more or less the second-best horror movie of 2014.