Slick, modestly budgeted indie "Oculus" premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and became a bit of a sensation in horror circles, garnering enough acclaim to win a major distributor and a wide theatrical release from Relativity Media. The buzz, it turns out, has overinflated a film with a riveting structure and not much else going for it. Writer-director Mike Flanagan (2012's "Absentia") and co-writer Jeff Howard have conceived of a solid narrative mystery, but leave nothing a mystery in terms of its broad, predictable ploys for frights. Neglectful common sense on the part of its characters leads to numerous inexplicable actions and missed opportunities for them to beat the malevolent heavy in question. What's even more damaging is the picture's lack of restraint; there are so many corpsy specters with glowing eyes prowling around right from the very first scene—and in full view—that its tension deflates before it has had time to adequately build. As a byproduct, "Oculus" just isn't scary.
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