Dark Mirror (2007)

The trouble with reality starts when the paranoid are also the people for whom seeing is believing. That's why delusions must be created."I'll know it when I see it," says the photographer-heroine (actress Lisa Vidal) of this 2007 indie film. "Deborah Martin" is a middling talent; a photographer who captures images, but who doesn't _see_. Her awareness dawns late. Her blind spot is her own paranoia.When she gets the brush-off for a job, she overhears -- through the muffle of a closed door -- her male interviewer remark "I wouldn't hire her, but I'd f**k her." When she catches a partially-obstructed glimpse of her bimbo neighbor and her husband on the front sidewalk, she sees certain infidelity.Deborah dismisses signals warning of flaws in her perception. Though perplexed enough to twice compare the image on her DSLR's monitor to her eyes' view of the bathroom shower, she ignores the incongruent behavior of the flower-or-splat-shaped wall appliqués.As is expected with the title "Dark Mirror" the film considers reflection in the vein of yin-yang or alter ego. The mother who visits her daughter Deborah at the new house is changed anew; whimsically, she is the supportive parent that Deborah long wanted. Donning a found Frau-Frau apron, afraid-she's-a-bad-mom Deborah morphs into June Cleaver. You may behold a painting and see a boy swimming in sun-dappled water. Look again and you may see a scene less idyllic.Writer-director Pablo Proenza's and writer Michael Reynold's layering of alternative interpretations of the mirror and reflection motifs piqued and held my interest. Distracting at first, lighting effects and camera angles ultimately had a synergistic impact on the story-telling and mood. In my view, this film is worth a look.

I stumbled upon this movie thinking it was a new TV show in the genre of the Twilight Zone or Tales from the Dark Side. It has the production value of a TV show but it soon became apparent that it was a movie that I'd just never heard of before.It started out promising enough (though clichéd) with a family moving in to a new house, which happens to be haunted. Strange things start happening to the wife involving mirrors. Pretty soon the writers find themselves tripping over the plot twists and story lines. The husband's complete lack of concern over the safety of his family, even as he suspects that his wife is a sociopath, makes no sense. The wife struggles with trying to figure out if the house is haunted or if she's crazy. A struggle shared by the writers, I might add. Much like Pirates of the Caribbean 2, the writers threw together a bunch of random story lines and never got them to gel together or make any sense.I will say that the movie was interesting enough to keep me watching, but the ending was disappointing because it never tied the story lines together.

Few things are more frustrating than a horror film that fails to do right by its premise. "Dark Mirror" has a lot going for it initially: an earthy, expressive lead actress (the wonderful Lisa Vidal), a contemporary haunted house plot with lots of potential, and a cast of strange neighbors and red herrings. Unfortunately, after a pretty good start that has Vidal, her dull, stiff of a husband and their bland son moving into a new home and things going wrong right away, the movie develops a case of "the stupids." Vidal and husband clearly have some domestic issues they're working through, but to goose up the suspense the writers see fit to have him doubt every little thing she says from the start to an annoying degree. "I know that woman!" Vidal says when she sees the face of a missing person on TV. "Are you sure?" says supportive husband. What? Wouldn't the natural response be something like "Really, you met this woman? Maybe we should tell someone." I know he's supposed to think she is losing it, but we as an audience need some normalcy before they jump into later plot points that should develop over the course of the film. As the film progresses and the wife grows increasingly certain that the house is haunted, the number of these kind of exchanges grow tiresomely frequent. Another complaint: The movie can't make up its mind what it wants to be and as such makes little sense. Part ghost story (what's with the ghost mom who is of no help?), part sleuthing mystery (the story behind the former owners of the house not only remains unsolved but the motivations don't connect with the puzzle), and what's with the Chinese spirituality and its complete lack of connection with the mysterious artist theme and her Latina roots?SPOILERSAs "Dark Mirror" moves towards its big reveal in the latter scenes, the overall shock is undermined by the dumb actions of the characters. The husband suspects the wife is losing her mind and possibly a homicidal maniac, but he thinks nothing of leaving their defenseless and easily spooked child alone with her as he puts in fourteen hour work days where he apparently keeps his fingers crossed that she won't murder any of the neighbors before he comes home.Also, the cops in their neighborhood are so inept they must be the LAPD...several people die within feet of this household and no one questions the housewife who is there all day and might have seen something. Really, at the end there is this laugh out loud scene when an inspector enters a bloody bedroom, examines the damage and then has to have the blood trail pointed out to him...a two foot wide trail of blood virtually blocking the entryway he obviously had to step over to get into the room. Incredible.On the plus side, I gotta say I can't fault Lisa Vidal with anything. She is a wonderfully natural actress and actually makes her virtual nothing role into something interesting. She is the only reason I was even motivated to stick around for the conclusion."Dark Mirror" is just another one of the recent slate of horror films that are all concept and no brains.

Woman moves into a new house and takes a photo in a mirror with a mirror behind her and unleashes a doppelganger from a mirror world. Or something. Unremarkable thriller hits all of the right notes for a story like this but doesn't add anything new to the sub-genre of horror film involving mirrors or alternate worlds. If you've seen any number of similar films you'll know what to expect. In all honesty its not a bad film, its just not a particularly remarkable one. I was kind of hoping for something special because the film was released by IFC Films which tends to release films that have some form of something that's different. This is simply a well done, but run of the mill horror film