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Five years before “Absentia,” a haunting and character-rich horror tale, Mike Flanagan directed 2006′s “Oculus: The Man With the Plan,” a half-hour fright film that won raves from genre fans on the fest circuit.

His new feature expands it into an impressively intricate supernatural thriller in which an orphaned brother and sister return to destroy the antique mirror they think killed their parents years earlier.

Cleverly complex, if not quite as scary or memorable as one might have hoped, “Oculus” should expand on the underseen “Absentia’s” buzz (though probably still mostly through home formats) and boost Flanagan another step up the industry ladder.

http://variety.com/2013/film/reviews...us-1200612867/