Mirrors (2008)

Working in a fire-demolished department store, a security guard finds that the constant ghostly visions and hallucinations he sees in the mirrors around the store are directing him to solve a decades-old mystery and races to unravel it before the spirits target his family.This here was quite the fun if somewhat slightly flawed effort. What really stands out for this one is the fact that there's quite a lot of strong and utterly chilling haunting scenes throughout here which manage to really get this one worked up quite nicely. The film's central concept of having the mirrors reflect a different reality than the present and using that to trick a person into thinking they're actually there is a fantastic ploy and manages to give this one a strong and entirely distinct haunting scenes. Starting with the fantastic opening scene in the subway bathroom of the mirror- version forcing the victim to commit suicide in the real world and looking on approvingly after the fact, there's some creepy scenes here including his first security walk-through that makes him discover the trail of hand-prints on the inside of the glass and eventually leading him into the darkened hallway on the other side of the room, the second one where he goes to inspect the mirror only to have it break off and slash his hand that soon turns into the film's best series of gags featuring the mirrors showing him to be on fire only for the reality of the situation to be quite different and the final store gag where it uses a strong sense of atmosphere to send him into the investigation at full intensity while being a solid gag itself. Once this one leaves the department store and features the ghosts interacting with the outside world it's far creepier and generates all kinds of great shocks with the spectacular scene in the apartment bathroom that results in this one's greatest sequence, the big chase around the house where they realize their son's disobeyed their orders and must contend with the ghosts attempts at causing them harm by stalking their son and the grand finale in the underground chamber where he straps in the victim to the chamber and lets her get repossessed only to lead into the grand brawl at the end which is a ton of fun leading through the water- logged tunnels and leading up to the fiery escape to get out of the crumbling building which makes for a thrilling and spectacular series of encounters here which is what makes this one so much fun. As well, the gradual unveiling of the mystery here makes for some rather fun times here as there's some nice work done at setting up the ongoing mystery and letting the backstory hold this one together rather nicely. Alongside the graphic gore and bloodletting, these here are the film's positives and hold it up over the few negative aspects. The main issue with this is the fact that there's the rather bland middle half which doesn't really offer up all that much interesting stuff in the middle portions as it focuses on the investigations without going for the series of ghostly hauntings which really makes it feel a little bland and padded out rather than actually interesting. While there's still a rather enjoyable presence found throughout here, the pace is noticeably dragged out and slowed which does feel rather off as the focus turns away from ghosts to whether or not he's insane and the distracting nature of figuring everything out which is what makes the film just a bit too long. Otherwise, there's not a whole lot else really wrong here.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Brief Nudity and children-in-jeopardy.

I just watched the full uncut version to be sure to have all the gore included because I know the director Alexandre Aja very well for his ultra gore flicks Haute Tension (2003) and The Hills Have Eyes (2006). This one here isn't a bad film but for an Aja flick it's rather low on gore.Luckily it still has a good story to offer and the performances were above mediocre. I watched the screen with suspense even as you can see it coming sometimes from miles away. As I stated earlier, the gore isn't the main thing in this flick, it's all about the mirrors and the CGI attached to it. Even as I am not a CGI lover here it does work out fine mostly. But when the gore comes in it's in full glory. The opening is worth watching and the bath scene with the nude Amy Smart (Angela Carson) does offer something for the geeks out there too.Still it isn't the best of Alexander Aja. After Mirrors we had to wait until Piranha 3D (2010) to see gratuitous gore again. But Mirrors is worth picking up if you are into ghost stories.Gore 1,5/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 3,5/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

I'm slightly disappointed by this one. It started out as a sort of slasher, then quickly turned into investigation, then into supernatural. Slasher movies aren't necessarily my favorites, and I don't like how it quickly turned into an investigation movie and a boring one at that. Investigation in horror can be done right if it's coherent and interesting, which this one was not. The Ring is a great example of an investigation horror film. When it turned into supernatural, that was more of what I was expecting from this film, but it still wasn't terribly entertaining or even scary in the slightest. I think this went more for the "cool effects" route. Speaking of which, the mirror effects did look great, and it was probably the best part of the movie... but if the special effects are the high point of a film, I don't think you're gonna get any quality entertainment.C

Ben Carson is an ex-police detective in New York whose alcoholism made him incompetent on the job, and caused him to kill a man. Now he's trying to win back the trust of his estranged wife, a medical examiner, and maintain a loving relationship with his two young children. To make money while waiting for reinstatement, he takes a job as a night watchman at a department store gutted by fire. But he is soon tormented by supernatural mirrors that plagued the person he replaced. Ben finds that the mirrors' demons follow him everywhere in every reflective surface.....The biggest problem with the film is that because of the success of 24, you can never see a film with Sutherland in now, without thinking of Jack Bauer, so here, it's just Jack Bauer in a horror film, a good horror film, but he even brings Bauers' traits to the table.But Aja again proves that he is a competent film maker, and until he sold himself out with Pirhanna, he was an exciting horror film maker.The concept of mirrors and your reflection causing you harm is a wonderful idea, and the narrative creates a sinister air of tension.The ending is a little off the straight and narrow, and for gore hounds there is a literal mouth opening moment, but all in all, its a nice horror movie, not trying to exploit, just to scare.And it kind of succeeds....l