As a new trailer for the horror movie Oculus was hitting the airwaves this week, writer/director Mike Flanagan jumped online to see how the reaction was going.

Oculus was trending! But wait — people seemed … angry? No — really angry.

SEE ALSO: Facebook Buys Oculus VR. U Mad?

“I just saw stuff that was like, ‘F*ck you Oculus!’ I was like – ‘What did we do? Did people not like the commercial?” Flanagan told Mashable.

Their ire, as you’ve probably figured out by now, was directed at the big news that the promising virtual-reality headset maker Oculus Rift was being sold to Facebook for $2 billion.

The buzzy VR company — whose name just happens to include the same obscure word as the Relativity Media movie’s title — made a big media splash Tuesday night, just days into the April 11 release’s marketing ramp-up. You can’t buy viral exposure like that in Hollywood; never mind that it's for another thing altogether.

“It can’t hurt,” Flanagan said. “It’s great, just as far as title awareness. It’s one of those weird words that we were concerned no one would know.”

Oh, people knew. In a good sign for the moderately budgeted thriller, the mashups began mere moments after the news broke. (The word “Oculus,” by the way, is an architectural term for a circular opening at the apex of a dome; and an archaeological term for a design representing an eye.)

“I started to get a kick out of it when people started doing PhotoShop versions of the poster,” he said.

They put Mark Zuckerberg’s face inside the Oculus movie’s signature oval mirror. They subtly inserted punctuation to change the film’s Twitter hashtag — #SeeYourEvil – to read #See?You’reEvil.

Even the film’s tagline — “You see what it wants you to see” – seemed appropriate to the moment when the world was becoming hyper-aware of the headset that creates a fully immersive environment.

Just got invite to screening of "Oculus" (real movie!) Tagline: "You See What It Wants You To See" No, not starring Jesse Eisenberg. — Steven Levy (@StevenLevy) March 26, 2014

Flanagan said the film’s title had been locked since 2005, so there was no chance of running into any copyright troubles. “There’s never been any negativity,” he said.

Well, except for having to let down a few oblivious well-wishers.

“I had a couple of people message me on Facebook and say ‘congratulations,’” Flanagan said. “I promise you ... no one bought our movie for 2 billion.”