This post originally appeared in Summer 2014 for a now-retired blog called The Write Place.
I slipped off to the theater one night last year to check out the horror film, Oculus, starring Karen Gillan as Kaylie Russell and Brenton Thwaites as her younger brother Tim. As the film opens, Tim has just been released from a mental institution following the deaths of their parents ten years ago. By the time I left the theater, I realized the story in Oculus is a lot like the stories of families in other horror movies. Think Poltergeist, The Amityville Horror or The Conjuring.
Both Kaylie and Tim are in their early 20s now and, upon Tim’s release, Kaylie offers him a quick, welcoming hug before reminding him of the promise they made to each other just before he was stuffed into a police car and carted away for the murder of their father.
[Read more…] about Why Families in Horror Films Don’t End Up Well
