Mirrors Reviews

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but the concept sounded pretty cool so I was still eager to check it out. Indeed, the scariest thing I have ever seen was an episode of ‘The Outer Limits’ and it was also involving mirrors. It scared me so bad, it left me sleepless for many nights and it was probably the most traumatising thing I have ever seen. I also enjoyed ‘Candyman’ a lot and mirrors were really important there as well. Basically, there is something really creepy about mirrors and I hoped this movie would develop this.Unfortunately, I thought it was just rather underwhelming. Indeed, basically, it is once again one of these thriller/horror flicks who has an obviously mentally disturbed main character but instead of developing the psychological aspect, they make sure that everything he sees and hears is 100% accurate. Why throw away any amound of ambiguity? Why don’t they let us wonder if the guy might be competely crazy or not? Instead, from the moment that the weird stuff starts up, the main character freaks out for about 5 minutes about what’s going on and then he becomes basically Jack Bauer, an almighty cop saving the day, and not a single moment again, he stops to tell himself ‘what the f*ck is actually going on here?!?’. To conclude, I was rolling my eyes in disbelief during the whole duration, sure it is sometimes creepy, even gross for a couple of scenes, but I really had a hard time to care about the whole thing and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

Pretty creepy movie, quite gory in places and leaves you wondering what will happen to Ben now that he's trapped in the mirror at the end, but it's a very good movie. Def worth watching!

Mirrors, directed by Alexandre Aja and written by Aja & Gregory Levasseur is a film designed to play on the fears of the individual. Aja directed Piranha (2010) and The Hills Have Eyes (2006) to name a few of his other more popular horror flicks, and I can say without hesitation that they’re all of equal caliber. They may have a few good scenes here and there, but for the most part, it was a giant pile of “meh.”

To summarize, an ex-cop desperate to gain back the love and trust of his family takes a job at a burned down New York department store, finds out the secrets of the haunted mirrors, and ends up slightly destroying what he was trying to repair.

The ghosts of the schizophrenic demons of a little girl, Anna Esseker (Mary Beth Peil) are trapped in the mirrors and are trapping the reflections of those who peer in to the glass. As a child Anna was sent to be cured of her disease by facing herself: sitting strapped to a chair in a room full of mirrors, forced to confront her reflection and save herself. While she claims to never have been cured, the things responsible for enslaving her fled to the mirrors that are still claiming lives. If it’ sounds corny, it’s because it really kinda is.

The bloody scenes are bloody indeed. The emotional build up to the scenes is what was really lacking. I bit my knuckle and squinted my eyes almost closed when the gore hit, which is why I think it was well done, but I had absolutely no emotional investment in the characters, even the children that were involved. I treated this film as torture porn: PATIENTLY waiting for the next kill.

The one thing I did appreciate about this movie (other than the gore, of course) was the ending. It concluded on an almost classy note, and I thoroughly enjoyed maybe the last, oh, two to three minutes of the movies. I thought the handprints on the glass (I won’t explain this for those of you who haven’t seen the film, but do intend to) carrying over to the conclusion was clever and well executed. I’m quite glad that even though this movie was trash, it didn’t leave me with a bad taste in my mouth.

My official rating: **

Fantastic from start to finish... thrilling! Will have you thinking about it for weeks afterwards.

''My family's not dying tonight.''

An ex-cop and his family are the target of an evil force that is using mirrors as a gateway into their home.

Kiefer Sutherland: Ben Carson

Mirrors begins by showing us a security man trying to escape from an unseen force in the confines of a locker room.

Then cue to Kiefer Sutherland as he starts his first day on the job in a large complex that resembles a castle or museum with giant ceilings and Greek columns. The mall burnt and ashy, currently vacant only containing leftovers from the stores mainly mannequins, furniture, and huge mirrors. The mirrors are immaculate. We are informed that Kiefer's predecessor slaved over keeping them clean.

The life of Kiefer's character is a contorted mess. Jobless from the police force, divorced and in trouble with his lovely wife over the two siblings, sleeping on his lovely sister's couch and apparently with some type of a prescription dilemma. His shifts at his new job present something all together odd. A hand print on a mirror. The print can't be erased at all. It's on the other side of the mirror. He also discovers a flooded underground basement. Back at home he starts seeing things in the mirror. And starts investigating things about the place and the security guard who he replaced. He suspects that it is not just in his head as others tell him but that something is not right with this building and it's bizarre mirrors.

It turns out next to the complex was a hospital where strange treatments took place in the psychiatric unit. As a result of what happened there to a young girl, the mirrors in the complex are trying to convey a message. Kiefer continues with the investigation tracking down the girl. In the meantime the mirrors start attacking his family.

The actual woman when he finds her is the biggest let down of all. It's got white Noise, Silent Hill, The Shining written all over it. It doesn't stop there in the fact that a remake rarely has a chance or glimmer at actually succeeding.

Performances are as follows from the respective cast.
Paula Patton who plays Amy Carson, who I've previously remember seeing in Deja Vu succeeds in her performance in the sense that a black outfit focuses my attention to her cleavage and body, while her wet clothes also distract me from the fact there is horror going on here too. Her sexiness and beauty seems to be used to serve the Director's needs but he only distracts us from being scared. Performance wise she can act when I'm not distracted by other attributes.
Kiefer Sutherland as Ben Carson recounts his 24 days horror style, and transitions from Sentinel thrills to Mirrors supernatural horror. He's right at home in the role of a weathered ex-cop caught up in strange events.
Amy Smart as Angela Carson doesn't really have a big part but what happens is memorable and jaw dropping indeed.

Overall in Mirrors there are a couple of twists near in the climax. The story takes on quite a different character from the mirror-attacking-people story. But is this a good prospect?
The end isn't really anything new, reminding me of a sort of echo, of every horror video game out there a la Resident Evil, Silent Hill.

Alexander Aja knows how to direct horror and actors but that in itself doesn't equal anything new or indeed good. Mirrors is nicely executed in the way it's shot and has great camera work and angles in places. There are frequent scares and gore throughout to keep audiences satisfied. The story itself is relatively placid but more flat-lining than electrifying.
Mirrors is also too long at nearly two hours and could have used some heavy editing for a more compact resolute solution. The mirrors are as much as a character as Kiefer, who himself ends up equaling a very non-reflective hero in this.

Overall a watchable horror film that could use either more horror or deletion of scenes to make it a bit more of a thrill ride.
A scene with the old nun lady ruins the film in being ultra-unrealistic and an ending that feels recycled rather than new and mystifying, but overall Mirrors succeeds in what it sets out to do. With the added re-watching power for males in the capacity of seeing Paula Patton show us the female anatomy in a wet fashion.

Kiefer Sutherland(24, The Lost Boys) Stars as Benjamin Carson a retired NYPD Detective with a troubled past. who seeks employment and finds it as a nightwatchmen in the retired mayflower building.Paula Patton(Deja Vu) plays Amy Carson Ben's ex-wife whom he's trying to get back with.Amy Smart(Road Trip) is Ben's sister whom he lives with. until strange things start happening within the mayflower building. Does Ben Get interested with mirrors. Mirrors is a powerful, yet suspenseful movie that proves to be one of the summers best and should not be missed.