Oculus

The haunted-mirror scenario gets an impressive workout in writer/director Mike Flanagan's expansion of his award-winning 2005 short. Doctor Who star Karen Gillan and Brenton Thwaites (Maleficent) work hard at playing disturbed orphaned siblings who endeavour to destroy the antique-looking glass they are convinced unleashed a malignant force that killed their parents a decade earlier. Named after its first recorded owner, the Lasser Glass infects the minds of those it mirrors, leading to paranoia, distorted visions and possession. Flanagan mines these genre staples with cool ease, as taut action and floating camerawork extract maximum creepiness and reflective jolts. But the film is most effective when the spirits trapped in the mirror start protecting themselves by manipulating reality. This is an unnerving trip through a grim and grisly psychological realm.