Calculus Movie Psychology

In the horror movie Oculus, directed by Mike Flanagan, a typical family moves into a home and terrible things start happening after the arrival of an antique mirror. The mirror turns the mother and father against the children and then each other by preying on their inner demons. Both become more and more psychotic until they attempt to kill the children. In a moment of lucidity, the father, Alan murders his wife, Marie, and then himself. As reunited adults more than ten years later, brother and sister Kaylie and Tim are fighting the mirror once again. Kaylie records herself and explains that the mirror is “responsible for at least forty-five deaths in the four centuries of its recorded existence” (Oculus, Kaylie). Ultimately history repeats itself and Kaylie ends up dead. Tim again is blamed for the death of one of his family members and the movie, although it has a concrete ending that allows the audience to finally relax, still leaves the audience uncomfortable with

She feared her husband was cheating on her and it drove her mad. As the mirror exploited the mother’s insecurities it also exploits the audience’s. Because it is scary it makes the audience bond and relate to Marie even more. In a research article published by Psychology Today by Dr. Deirdre Johnston, Johnston argues that the reason why people are so attracted to horror films is because they relate to them. It then can be interpreted that the horror films help people cope with their inner issues. She said, “viewing motivations are found to be related to viewers’ cognitive and affective responses to horror films, as well as viewers’ tendency to identify with either the killers or victims in these films” (Johnston). The unspoken topic, a person’s fears in this case, is not directly brought up but in is able to subconsciously bring up the viewer’s fears as he or she watches how the mother