With his last movie, the surprisingly enjoyable and eerie Absentia, director Mike Flanagan utilized a wicked tunnel to draw out the scares. With his upcoming frightfest Oculus, he’s turning mirrors into the freakiest objects in the house. My mirrors are at their most frightening whenever I look into them after waking up, so I think I know where Flanagan is coming from here.

We now have our very first trailer for the film (via Yahoo! Movies), which admittedly doesn’t do a very good job of laying out what the story is, but there are enough spooky teasers to get me excited all over again. From the mirror that seems to be uncovering itself to the ominous nursery rhyme in the voiceover, this is obviously a movie that is taking some cues from horrors past. Knowing that it’s from the producers of the Paranormal Activity franchise and Insidious doesn’t really do anything for me, but early reviews of the film have been extremely positive, and Flanagan based the film on his own award-winning short from a few years ago. So it’s got more going for it than against it.

Oculus should attract sci-fi fans as well as thriller fans, as it stars Doctor Who alum Karen Gillan and Battlestar Galactica’s Katee Sackhoff. Gillan plays Kaylie, a woman whose childhood was plagued by the tragedy of her parents’ murder. Though her brother Tim (Brenton Thwaites) was convicted of the crimes, Kaylie is convinced it was a supernatural being that has something to do with the mirror. As the adult Tim is released from prison, Kaylie takes it upon herself to find the mirror and figure out the truth, which of course just means she’ll have to experience the heebie-jeebies all over again. Sackhoff will play the mother to young Kaylie (Annalise Basso), and it looks like she’ll also be a large part of the ghostly shenanigans, as the trailer shows us.





In the Yahoo! story, Gillan points out viewers were particularly freaked out by the scene where she has a bloody mouth while holding a light bulb. Because why wouldn’t they be? If this film can make mirrors scary again, maybe it can do the same for bulbs.

Oculus will reflect evil back upon audiences when it hits theaters on April 11. The film’s first poster was also released recently, which you can see below. Just don’t expect it to see you looking at it. Seriously, even though it’s a ridiculous example of what Photoshop is capable of, it still kind of freaks me out. Where are its wrists?!?