Hello everyone, it's February and I wanted to do a new segment. If this is successful and people enjoy it, the plan is to go each month with taking a director's work and highlighting their films. If everyone wants to recommend directors, that would be cool. But for this month, welcome to what I am calling "Flanagan February".
Mike Flanagan is a very interesting director. Looking over on his iMDB, he directed a few smaller movies from 2000-2003 (Makebelieve, Still Life, and Ghosts of Hamilton Street). All three of these films tended to dip into Drama. We all know that Flanagan delivers a very distinct style with his horror work that also delves into drama. So, it's interesting seeing him dip his toe into things with the early films. But that's not why we're here today.
Today, we are here to start our journey with Flanagan's Horror work. Again, I mention his distinct style that is just so damn good. It's extremely easy to see why his stuff works so well. At this point, I would definitely consider Flanagan to be part of the modern era of the "Masters of Horror" in Hollywood. I have seen quite a few of his more recent works in the genre. So it's nice going back to see those earlier works.
His first horror film was Absentia. It was released in 2011. I haven't had the pleasure of checking it out yet. But you can be sure that I'll rectify that quickly. It's available over on Tubi, if you are interested in checking it out. Maybe at some point I'll figure out how to host a Watch Party over on Twitter.
After Absentia's release, Flanagan returned in 2013 with his second horror film, Oculus. Oculus was based off of a short that Flanagan had made in 2006 - Oculus: Chapter 3 - The Man With The Plan. It's an interesting short. As soon as I knew that I wish to start putting this series together, I tracked it down to give it a view. It's a short that shows so much incredible promise of a young director. It proudly shows its talent on its sleeve.
Now the film version of Oculus, it expands on the themes and the story itself in such a massive way. The interesting thing is when Oculus was first released, I missed it. I don't remember what was going on at that point in my life. But it missed my attention. I ended up coming back to it when I went to the local Dollar Tree and lo and behold, it was sitting there on the shelf. Immediately I knew it was a Mike Flanagan film and snatched it up because for me when I know it's one of his films - I know that I will be entertained.
The synopsis for the film follows "A woman tries to exonerate her brother, who was convicted of murder, by proving that the crime was committed by a supernatural phenomenon.". One of the things that I have to applaud is the way it expands the story. It gives the film a heart by grounding it in what is ultimately a family's story. And the way that it is told is in such a unique, interesting, and beautiful way. One of the big things that I noticed was the film doesn't follow a standard structure. It allows itself to move between two parallel stories with such ease. And the symmetry of what happens in the past and how it informs the present day story is very interesting. Especially considering that at the heart of the family's problem is a Cursed Mirror. So, it just drives the themes home even further by reflecting the past onto the present.
When I started the film, I didn't fully realize just how many well known actors are in it. It was literally something that was ahead of its time in terms of the casting. We have Karen Gillan in her first American role as Kaylie. Of course, we know her as Amy Pond from Doctor Who or the fact that she'd go on to become Nebula in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Guardians of the Galaxy. She is amazing in this film. Then we have Brenton Thwaites as Kaylie's brother, Tim. Now, I have gone on to know Thwaites as Dick Grayson from HBO Max's Titans. In this film, he is fantastic. It's fun looking back knowing that he'd go on to become a bit of a big name. And honestly, I love Titans and a large reason is due to Thwaites' performance. Katee Sackhoff and Rory Cochrane play Kaylie and Tim's parents in the past portion in the story. These two actors play off of each other really well. I also noticed James Lafferty, who plays Kaylie's fiancée - Michael. At this point, I know Lafferty from that little show he did called One Tree Hill. On that show, I thought he delivered a lot of good performances. However in the little bit he's in this film, he's fantastic. It had me wishing to see more of him. And then I noticed someone that's gone on to become a bit of a staple in Flanagan's films, Kate Siegel. The first time I had seen Siegel was in a film that I'll be covering down the road, Hush. (If you haven't checked out Hush, go check it out. No, when you get a chance - check it out. Netflix. Yeah, you. The one that's reading this right now.)
I wasn't sure what I was expecting this film to be. I knew it was Flanagan. At this point for me, always delivers. But I loved it. It was something that I wasn't expecting at all. A huge breath of fresh air. From the first moment, the film managed to draw me in. I was wanting to see where things were going to go next. And there were quite a few times where I was completely blind sided. That's something I love so much when a story will just rip the rug out from underneath you. And Oculus did that in spades. For the most part, it felt a little bit like a thriller and not a horror piece. Especially with the way that the two stories are moving with one another. And it ultimately delivered an ending that left me speechless. It is such an ending that I never saw coming at all. I applaud the ending because it's so strong and bold. But it also wraps things up in an interesting way.
If you wish to check out Oculus, it's available on The Roku Channel, Hulu, and Starz. I'd definitely recommend it, especially if you are looking for more of Flanagan's work.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
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