Mirrors (I) (2008)

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

Director:

Alexandre Aja

Writers:

Alexandre Aja (screenplay), Grégory Levasseur (screenplay),

Stars:

Kiefer Sutherland, Paula Patton, Cameron Boyce

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kiefer Sutherland	...	Ben Carson
Paula Patton	...	Amy Carson
Cameron Boyce	...	Michael Carson
Erica Gluck	...	Daisy Carson
Amy Smart	...	Angela Carson
Mary Beth Peil	...	Anna Esseker
John Shrapnel	...	Lorenzo Sapelli
Jason Flemyng	...	Det. Larry Byrne
Tim Ahern	...	Dr. Morris
Julian Glover	...	Robert Esseker
Josh Cole	...	Gary Lewis
Ezra Buzzington	...	Terrence Berry
Aida Doina	...	Rosa (as Doina Aida Stan)
Ioana Abur	...	Front Desk Sister
Darren Kent	...	Jimmy Esseker

Storyline

In New York, the former NYPD detective Ben Carson is hired to work as night watch of the remains of the Mayflower Department Store that was partially destroyed by fire many years ago. Ben became alcoholic and was retired from the police force after killing a man in a shooting. His marriage was also destroyed and now he is living in the apartment of his younger sister Angie. However he has not been drinking for three months and sees the employment as a chance to rebuild his life. When he goes to the rounds in his first night, he finds that the mirrors are impeccably clean and his colleague explains that the former night watch was obsessed by the mirrors. After a couple of nights, Ben sees weird images in the mirrors, but due to the lack of credibility of his past, his ex-wife Amy believes he has hallucinations as a side effect of his medication. When Angie is found brutally murdered in her bathtub, Ben discovers that there is an evil force in the mirror that is chasing him and ...

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Plot Keywords:

mirror | fire | medication | evil | nypd | 

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Taglines:

There Is Evil........On The Other Side

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, disturbing images, language and brief nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Australia] Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA Romania Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 August 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Into the Mirror

Filming Locations:

Academy of Sciences, Bucharest, Romania

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£834,092 (UK) (10 October 2008)

Gross:

$30,691,439 (USA) (21 November 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Regency Enterprises, New Regency Pictures, Luna Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min 112 min (unrated)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Amy Smart had to be fed through a straw for her big bathroom scene as she obviously was unable to open her mouth.

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Goofs

Ben dusts himself down after the fire scene, and rubs his shirt down to make sure he isn't burned. If he was rubbing a clean white shirt with a bleeding hand that wasn't bandaged yet, he should get blood all over his shirt, but he doesn't.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Gary Lewis: [after opening window and seeing that it doesn't lead anywhere] Oh fuck!

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Crazy Credits

After the end of the credits, the title appears, but backwards.

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Connections

Features Divorce Court (1999)

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Soundtracks

"Asturias"
Composed by Isaac Albéniz (as Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz i Pascual)
Arranged by Javier Navarrete

User Reviews

You can't hide from reflection - or the later part of this film.

This is a film I was really looking forward to seeing. When it was released in theatres I tried to persuade people to go see it but no one was keen other than me. From the trailer it looked intriguing, being stalked by your own reflection sounded like a new direction of psychological horror and Kiefer Sutherland is usually pretty good, but I have to say after finally seeing it I can't decide if I am disappointed or not.

Ben (Sutherland) is a former cop who is pending investigation after accidentally killing someone, after this he plunged into the world of drink but now he is three months clean and trying to patch things up with his wife and kids. Fed up of living on his sister's (Smart) sofa he takes on a job as a night watchman at a burnt down shopping mall. The job is easy money, sit and watch television and every three hours wander round the building to scare away any intruders. The problem he finds though on his first night is that he himself is the intruder. As he looks into the mirrors he starts to see reflections of things that aren't taking place, many of them being of the people who savagely died in the fire. Things become weirder when Ben leaves the building to find he is still being stalked by his reflection and that no one will believe his story. His family begins to become stalked by their reflections also and when he finds out the previous night watchmen had the same problem, ending with them killing themselves; he attempts to find out what the mirrors want. The reply is: Esseker, and from here on in Ben searches for the answers.

The first half of this film is intriguing; the thought of being stalked by your reflection really plays on your mind. Of course we are all stalked by our reflections but here you will move one way and your reflection will move another. The sure fear of trying to hide from something that is unavoidable is scary on its own and when your reflection causes you to do things you don't want to do you can really feel petrified that your reflection is everywhere. The first half puts you on edge and begins to journey down the route of psychological thriller until….. Well until the second half.

In the second half Ben attempts to search for the reasons, which makes the premise of the first half lose its thrill. Now we begin to unravel the true meaning behind the mirrors demonic ways and without telling you what it is I will say it is so un-scary. The film plays out like many other horror film of today with someone being stalked or haunted and then venture out to find out why. When the second half of Mirrors kicks in here we realise that it is only happening again. The whole thing just becomes a tired old cliché, which is a shame considering the good premise. The dialogue becomes typical, the washed up former cop character is typical and even an oddball family met later in the film is stereotypical. I really wanted this to go more down the psychological route rather than the horror cliché one.

The acting is hit and miss. Sutherland is OK as the former cop, sometimes putting on a show and others realising he is in a corny horror. Patton is poor as Ben's disbelieving wife, disbelieving of course until the mirrors stalk her. Smart gets very little screen time but is involved in the most horrific scene. I say horrific but also looks the least realistic compared to some of the images in the mirrors and Jason Flemyng is just useless as the bit part cop that seems to be unneeded.

It's disappointing that I feel this way about the film as I really enjoyed the opening half and really thought this was going to go down a dark road but ultimately it just becomes another typical horror involving mirrors. The film does have its positives so I don't want to write it off completely. It does have its scare and thrills just not in the later half. The first half, although unrealistic, feels believable where the second just spirals out of control. Saying that though the final few moments is a bit of a shock and a good ending for the film. It made me feel a bit more for it in the end. I am disappointed but really enjoyed the first half so am willing to say it is an average film which could have been so much more.