Oculus Feature Cover
I hope that filmmakers everywhere will take notice of the upcoming feature film version of Oculus, from micro-budget-birthed director, Mike Flanagan, which will be coming to theaters nationwide on April 11th! (If you missed out, we did a fun reprint of the original critique of his 2006 Oculus short last week!)
And it’s not just to support one of our own that I would encourage you to check out the film in the theaters (although that’s certainly part of it), it’s that Flanagan’s filmmaking deserves to be seen on the big screen.
For those of you new to the Oculus mythos, rest assured that this is not a film that’s designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator of grist-mill horror, but raises the bar for what horror can do and what it should be. Don’t come expecting cheap tricks and tired sight gags–instead, expect smart writing, great acting, dark questions, and a truly dangerous artifact.
Although I was not the critic, I discovered the world of the deadly mirror through Mike Flanagan’s short film, Oculus: Chapter 3 – The Man with the Plan, when he submitted it to us in 2006. A 30 minute film created in a single room with a single actor for $2,000 swept me into a mystical embrace of powerful storytelling and seriously thrilling scares. The short film got a 9.5 from Kari Ann Morgan. (Later, I personally would give The Ghosts of Hamilton Street a 9.7, while his last feature film, Absentia, received a perfect 10 from yet another critic here at MFM.)
Eight years later, Flanagan is bringing Oculus to the big screen with the help of some amazingly talented actors and actresses, including Katee Sackhoff, Rory Cochraine, Karen Gillan, and Brenton Thwaites, amongst many others. (He’s even bringing back the star of the original short film, Scott Graham, in a special cameo.)
I’d love it if the readers of MFM would show their support for Flanagan’s work–and show Hollywood that taking chances on high quality Indie filmmakers is a good business move–by checking it out in the theaters the weekend of the 11th!
To give you a better feel for the series, I’ve included the teaser and the full trailer (from last week’s critique) below:
Oculus Teaser
Jeremy T. Hanke
The director of two feature length films and half a dozen short films, Jeremy Hanke founded MicroFilmmaker Magazine to help all no-budget filmmakers make better films. The second edition of his well-received book on low-budget special effects techniques, GreenScreen Made Easy, (which he co-wrote with Michele Yamazaki) is being released by MWP in fall 2016. He's curently working on the sci-fi collaborative community, World of Depleted, and directed the debut action short in this series, Depleted: Day 419 .