Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Alexandre Aja
Cast: Kiefer Sutherland, Paula Patton, Cameron Boyce, Erica Gluck, Amy Smart, Mary Beth Peil, John Shrapnel, Jason Flemyng, Tim Ahern, Julian Glover, Josh Cole, Ezra Buzzington, Ioana Abur, Aida Doina, Darren Kent
RunTime: 1 hr 51 mins
Released By: 20th Century Fox
Rating: M18 (Horror & Gore)
Official Website: http://www.mirrorsmovie.com/

Opening Day: 18 September 2008

Synopsis:

An ex-cop turned night security guard at a long-closed department store ravaged by fire discovers that the store’s mirrors harbor a horrific secret that threatens him and his family.

Movie Review:

Everyone remembers the scene in Steven Spielberg’s phenomenal dinosaur movie Jurassic Park (1993) where a Tyrannosaurus Rex runs after a jeep and gets reflected in a side mirror. The signature scene is parodied in John Lasseter’s Toy Story 2 (1999). And why would we remember this? Because there is a scene in this horror thriller where the hero played by Kiefer “Jack Bauer” Sutherland is driving and glances at his car’s rear mirror, and the words “objects in mirror is closer than they appear” are prominently featured.

And since this movie’s plot involves mirrors, there can be a whole lot of potentially deep academic discussions about notions circling the Id, ego, alter ego and super ego. Thankfully, the 110 minute movie doesn’t dwell too much into this. It realizes that the audiences are after shocks, blood and gore. So the Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes) directed picture moves in that direction – shocking viewers with sudden jolts, screams, and not forgetting blood and gore.

Sutherland plays an ex- who takes up a job as a night security guard at an old department store that was burnt down in a large fire years ago. The mentally tormented man begins being haunted by horrifying visions in the large mirrors of the store at night. This begins to affect him and his family, as scary beings surface from reflective surfaces to create destruction of the most unimaginable kind. And like all family loving men who are inclined to investigate the mysteries behind these bloodcurdling beings, he goes all out to uncover the truth.

Our leading man in question has no problem playing this role, since he already has eight years experience playing a similarly tortured cop in the TV series 24. We feel for him, considering how he caused the death of a fellow policeman years ago, how his wife left with the children after his drinking problems got worse, how he has to get a night job while staying at his sister’s apartment – it’s not just the women who have problems these days.

The movie serves up a few good scares too. Other than the obligatory shocks that appear every other moment when you least expect them (actually, viewers can anticipate instances like that, but everyone still enjoys screaming and giggling after that), there are also some truly gory scenes. Watch for a scene where an unfortunate victim drops her jaw in shock – literally.

And like most horror movie goes, this one does not have a solid story to tell. Sure, this remake of a Korean movie tries to inject some intellectual plot developments about psychology and split personality (the reflections and other self in the mirror, get it?), but it becomes contrived because the movie tries really hard to be rational and coherent, but it just becomes a fumbling clutter with no substantial takeaways.

Movie Rating:



(The movie serves a few good scares, and nothing else to make it a good horror picture)

Review by John Li