Surely, with a story centered around a haunted mirror, the set of “Oculus” had to have had some paranormal activity occur. Or did it? We hit the red carpet for the premiere of the film, opening this Friday, to find out.
We asked 14-year-old star Garrett Ryan if he could confirm our speculation that “Oculus” was a haunted shoot. “Something creepy happened on set,” he told CreepyLA, “but I’m not sure if I’m totally allowed to say it.”
Karen Gillan, who plays the lead role in the film, said “I feel I’ve been haunted before (including at an unnamed LA hotel where she had to change rooms due to noisy spirits), she didn’t experience anything on the “Oculus” set, which she described as simply “jovial.”
We next turned to writer/director Mike Flanagan, who told us the film inspired by a Jewish tradition he had learned of about covering a mirror at funerals “to keep the dead from coming back.”
“It terrified me, ” he said. He confirmed that whenever the mirror the film focuses was brought on set there was “a sense of trepidation” among the cast and crew. “I don’t know if it was due to the horror angle,” he said, “or if they were afraid to break it knowing how much it cost to make.”
However, he said after filming was done, “the family whose house we rented to shoot the movie requested we arrange for a cleansing ceremony,” apparently to rid of any lingering spirits.
Alas, CreepyLA feels our suspicions of a haunted set were confirmed.
Horror producer Jason Blum saw “Oculus” at the Toronto Film Festival last year and scooped it up to release under his Blumhouse Production banner. “It fits right in with what we’re doing,” Blum said about adding “Oculus” to his library. “It’s an original, lower budget, scary movie. The scares are original.”
Rotten Tomatoes currently gives “Oculus” a 92% “fresh” rating, a strong indicator for any film, but even rarer for a horror movie. It opens Friday at theatres everywhere.
Below check out our gallery from the red carpet, where we engaged the cast and crew to take selfies for us. Little do they know it was from our cursed cell phone, and may or may not be the basis for the inevitable “Oculus” sequel.