The Oracle

The Oracle

Year: 1985

Runtime: 94 mins

Language: English

Director: Roberta Findlay

MysteryHorrorCrimeThriller

A Power That Is Ancient. A murder victim reaches out from beyond the grave in an attempt to possess the body of a young woman who has moved into his old apartment.

Warning: spoilers below!

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Timeline & Setting – The Oracle (1985)

Explore the full timeline and setting of The Oracle (1985). Follow every major event in chronological order and see how the environment shapes the story, characters, and dramatic tension.

Time period

Location

Mrs. Malatesta's apartment, Graham's warehouse, a museum, a psychiatric institution

The story moves between an old woman's apartment, a warehouse where a murder occurs, a public museum, and a psychiatric institution, creating a sense of enclosed danger. The apartment is the origin of the haunting via the planchette and hand, while the warehouse and museum provide climactic confrontations. The settings shift from intimate interiors to public spaces, heightening tension and vulnerability.

🏙️ Urban 🔮 Supernatural 🧭 Mysterious

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 13:07

Main Characters – The Oracle (1985)

Meet the key characters of The Oracle (1985), with detailed profiles, motivations, and roles in the plot. Understand their emotional journeys and what they reveal about the film’s deeper themes.

Jennifer (Caroline Capers Powers)

A new tenant who unravels the mystery surrounding the planchette and the murders. She begins skeptical but grows determined to stop the malevolent force, using the hand as a means to uncover truth while facing increasing danger.

🧭 Investigator 🎭 Protagonist 🔬 Skeptic

Ray (Roger Neill)

Jennifer's husband, initially pragmatic and cautious. He becomes a casualty of the artifact's menace, underscoring the peril of underestimating the supernatural forces at work.

💑 Husband ⚖️ Skeptic 🛡️ Protector

Mrs. Malatesta (Irma St. Paule)

An elderly woman who uses an artificial hand with a quill as a planchette to contact the afterlife. Her disappearance and the enduring power of the hand set the haunting in motion, with Jennifer ultimately taking on a similar role at the end.

🧙 Elder 🕯️ Occult 🗝️ Planner

Pappas (Chris Maria De Koron)

The property manager who handles the apartment. He becomes an early victim of the planchette's power, succumbing to imagined monsters and stabbing himself in a trance.

🏢 Manager 🧩 Suspect 💀 Victim

Farkas (Pam La Testa)

A mysterious antagonist who commits brutal killings and manipulates others through disguises and fear. She attempts to eliminate Jennifer and is implicated in the larger conspiracy surrounding Graham's murder.

🧭 Villain 🗝️ Manipulator 💀 Killer

William Graham (James Styles)

The man found suffocated in his warehouse; his death is later revealed to be murder. His demise triggers the planchette's revelations and the unraveling of the case.

🕳️ Victim 💼 Wealth 🗝️ Legend

Dorothy Graham (Victoria Dryden)

Widow of William Graham who is later revealed to be behind her husband's murder. She alternates between aiding Jennifer and remaining a key conspirator in the crime.

👩 Widow 🕵️‍♀️ Deceiver 🧩 Partner

Museum Guard (John Munn)

A guard who helps in the museum setting and becomes involved when the supernatural force leads Jennifer there for safety. He embodies a rational counterpoint to the occult threat.

🛡️ Guard 🧭 Guide

Dr. Ryker (Ethel Mark)

The psychiatrist at the psychiatric institution who becomes a victim to the planchette's dark force. His death underscores the menace pursuing the protagonist.

🧠 Doctor 🩺 Authority 💀 Victim

Waitress (Joan Leonard)

A waitress who becomes the disguise for Farkas during an attempt to murder Jennifer, illustrating the planchette's ability to mislead and threaten.

🍽️ Waitress 🗡️ Assassin

Doctor (Lou Bartholomew)

A doctor involved in the hospital sequences, representing the medical world’s attempt to intervene but ultimately failing against the supernatural escalation.

🩺 Doctor 🛡️ Authority

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 13:07

Major Themes – The Oracle (1985)

Explore the central themes of The Oracle (1985), from psychological, social, and emotional dimensions to philosophical messages. Understand what the film is really saying beneath the surface.

🔮 Occult

An artificial hand with a quill becomes a conduit to the afterlife, blurring the line between life and death. Messages written by the planchette reveal hidden truths and propel the investigation. The plot centers on supernatural forces manipulating events around the characters, turning curiosity into danger.

🕵️ Murder & Deception

Graham's alleged suicide is reinterpreted as murder uncovered through the planchette's messages. Clues accumulate, exposing motives and betrayals, including the involvement of Dorothy and Farkas. The revelations reframe relationships and escalate the conspiracy.

💀 Violence & Horror

The narrative escalates from eerie signs to brutal killings, including the box-triggered deaths and a hospital sequence. A reanimated corpse intensifies the horror, culminating in a high-tension pursuit through the warehouse and museum. Death operates as both a physical threat and a supernatural force driving the plot.

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 13:07

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Movies about claustrophobic supernatural siege like The Oracle

Characters trapped in a location by a relentless supernatural force.If you liked The Oracle, you'll find similar stories of characters trapped by a haunting presence in these films. This list features movies where a home or building becomes a prison, with a supernatural entity slowly tightening its grip in a relentless, oppressive narrative.

claustrophobicparanoidoppressiveeerieunsettlingforebodingtrapped

Narrative Summary

The narrative typically begins with a character moving into or discovering a new location, only to find it already occupied by a powerful, often ancient, supernatural force. The story is a downward spiral of investigation and resistance, where attempts to understand or fight the entity only lead to a deeper entrapment and psychological unraveling.

Why These Movies?

These movies are grouped by their shared focus on a contained setting as the primary source of horror, a steady escalation of supernatural threat, and a pervasive feeling of being watched and hunted within one's own home. They create a powerful sense of inescapable dread.

Movies about cursed artifacts with bleak endings like The Oracle

Stories where a sinister artifact brings tragedy to its possessors.For viewers who enjoyed The Oracle's story of a supernatural planchette, this list features similar movies about cursed objects. These films explore the dark legacy of powerful artifacts, where investigation leads to psychological torment and typically concludes with a tragic, hopeless ending for the protagonist.

sinisterforebodingunsettlingtragichopelessoccultcursed

Narrative Summary

The plot follows a predictable but compelling arc: discovery of the object, initial fascination, unfolding investigation into its terrible past, and the protagonist's gradual loss of control as the object's curse takes hold. The endings are almost always bleak, suggesting the curse is inescapable and will merely pass to the next victim.

Why These Movies?

These films share a core focus on a malevolent inanimate object as the primary antagonist. They are united by themes of inescapable fate, the danger of curiosity, and a narrative structure that moves from mystery to despair, leaving the audience with a sense of futility and cyclical horror.

Unlock the Full Story of The Oracle

Don't stop at just watching — explore The Oracle in full detail. From the complete plot summary and scene-by-scene timeline to character breakdowns, thematic analysis, and a deep dive into the ending — every page helps you truly understand what The Oracle is all about. Plus, discover what's next after the movie.

The Oracle Summary

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The Oracle Summary

The Oracle Timeline

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The Oracle Timeline

The Oracle Spoiler-Free Summary

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The Oracle Spoiler-Free Summary

More About The Oracle

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