Summary
Horror filmmaker Mike Flanagan has explained how his 2013 supernatural horror movieOculuswas heavily inspired by an underrated Stephen King short story, which he claims to have “ripped off.” The Flanagan-directed movie follows two siblings, Kaylie and Tim, who are still dealing with the trauma of their parents' horrific deaths ten years earlier. Kaylie suspects their deaths had to do with their Lasser Glass, an antique mirror containing a supernatural entity. The film works not only as a horror movie, but also an examination of childhood trauma through its story.
However, speaking with Fangoria (viaIndieWire), Flanagan revealed theelements ofOculus' story were inspired by King’s short story1408,a story about a haunted hotel room. The horror filmmaker explained how much he wanted to make an adaptation of the work, something that fueled his inspiration for the 2013 movie he ended up making. Check out what Flanagan had to say below:
The honest answer is I really wanted to do 1408. I couldn’t because who the hell was I, for one thing, and they were making the movie already… But that’s Oculus if you replace the hotel room with a mirror, down to the long history of it. 1408 has this incredible monologue basically about the history of the room.
That was terrifying to me. And so the structure of Oculus, the short, is exactly the structure of 1408 the short story. You’re told the history of the object — or of the room in the case of the story — and then a skeptical protagonist is left alone in there. In mine, it was a true believer protagonist trying to prove the point, but I just ripped off 1408. That’s where it came from.
How 1408 Was A Major Inspiration for Flanagan’s Career
Flanagan Has Directed Several Successful King Adaptations
As Flanagan points out, there are a multitude of parallels betweenOculusand1408, withboth supernatural subjects' history and interactions with characters being quite similar.While the King short story was adapted into a 2007 movie starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson, theending of1408was dissimilar from the story. Based on his account of the film he wanted to make, Flanagan seemed to want a movie with the short story’s basic premise in mind throughout. However, the movie he did make also revealed how he would make it more complex and symbolic.
Mike Flanagan Wouldn’t Be A Horror Director Without 1 Stephen King Story (& It Inspired One Of His Movies)
1 Stephen King story not only played a crucial role in paving the way for Mike Flanagan’s career as a director but also inspired one of his films.
In the same interview,Flanagan reveals that his Netflix TV showThe Haunting of Hill Housewas inspired byOculus, likening it to a 10-hour version of his 2013 movie. This means the inspiration1408conjured in his work runs deep, a clear sign of his reverence for the horror author’s short story. It also indicates why he’s been able to expertly adapt King works likeGerald’s GameandDoctor Sleep, and why he’s been trusted with creating hisupcomingThe Life of Chuckmovie.
Flanagan is also working on a TV adaptation of King’sThe Dark Towerseries.
Given just how inspiring1408was to Flanagan’s early work likeOculus, it wouldn’t be surprising if other elements of the short story appear in some of his upcoming movies and TV shows. Given how it acted as the basis for two of his successful projects, pulling from it one more time in the future doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility. But, withthe filmmaker now adapting works from King, it could be some time before the short story’s direct inspiration returns in a future work.
Oculus
Cast
Eleven years after her brother Tim is accused of murdering their parents, Kaylie Russel attempts to research document the supernatural powers of an antique mirror, which drove him to commit the crimes. Meanwhile, flashbacks tell the story of the mirror’s haunting during the siblings' childhood, and the true story of the deaths of their parents.
