In the new Horror film Mirrors, Kiefer Sutherland plays Jack Bauer playing Bruce Campbell playing Ash playing Ben Carson. Carson is an NYPD detective suspended from the force who must take a job as a Night Watchmen in an abandoned Department Store (please don’t ask why an abandoned Department Store needs a security guard). Turns out the mirrors in the store are haunted (or something like that) and if you stare too long your reflection can make you harm yourself. The evil forces begin to take control of mirrors outside the store and soon Ben’s family is threatened by any reflective surface they come in to contact with. I swear it’s not quite as silly as it sounds.
Mirrors starts off as a fairly creepy supernatural thriller. There’s definitely something eerie about mirrors and we’ve seen them used for Supernatural shenanigans before. From Snow White to Candy Man, movies have always shown us that staring at your reflection for too long can lead to evil. The abandoned Department Store is a creepy setting, and I wish they’d kept the majority of the action there. Once we start to get evil mirrors outside the store (objects may be deadlier than they appear) things get silly… more so.
Since this a remake of an Asian horror flick (Geoul Sokeuro or Into the Mirror) there is of course a mystery behind the evil mirrors and our hero must go on a road trip to figure it out. We eventually get an explanation and all is revealed… right down to the last convoluted detail. All this exposition leads to some pretty painful dialogue that hit 11 on my cringe meter.
As nonsensical as the flick gets, we are treated to some good old fashioned gore! You know that scene in the trailer when Amy Smart’s reflection starts to rip off her own jaw? You get to see a lot more as the scene doesn’t go for any of that “leave it to the audience’s imagination” crap. Director Alexandre Aja definitely has a love for blood and latex. Actually, a lot of people have a love for latex but that’s another story.
From creepy and psychological to loud and visceral, you get the feeling this film was interfered with by the studio as there are some weird editing choices and certain action sequences seemed tacked simply to appease bored test audiences (it is Fox after all). With all that being said, I still sorta got a kick out of it. At the very least it’s an “R” rated Horror movie with real live grown up actors (including the awesome Sutherland) so it has to score points for that. There are also enough “jump” scares that horror virgins will be screaming in the aisles.
Aja’s next project is slated to be a Piranha re-do (in 3-D no less) that will mark his third straight remake. I’m a big fan of his work (loved High/Haute Tension and his version of The Hills Have Eyes was a high water mark in the 70’s horror remake craze) but I’m hoping he gets back to doing something totally original. He’s too talented a director to be known in Hollywood as “that French guy that does all the horror remakes.” Although I do admit, hot Piranha action in 3-D does have me kind of curious!
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