Mirrors (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) (as Gregory Levasseur)

Stars:

Kiefer Sutherland, Paula Patton, Amy Smart

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kiefer Sutherland	...	Ben Carson
Paula Patton	...	Amy Carson
Cameron Boyce	...	Michael Carson
Arika Gluck	...	Daisy Carson (as Erica Gluck)
Amy Smart	...	Angela Carson
Mary Beth Peil	...	Anna Esseker
John Shrapnel	...	Lorenzo Sapelli
Jason Flemyng	...	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 with 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:

supernatural horror | mirror | medication | fire | evil | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery

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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:

Romania

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,161,074, 17 August 2008, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$30,691,439

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$77,488,607

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

Shot in Romania, most of it was filmed in Nicolae Ceausescu's unfinished Academy of Sciences building in Bucharest.

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Goofs

(at around 1h 1 mins) When Ben sees his sister reflected in the rear-view mirror, he removes the rear view mirror but not the side-view mirrors.

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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

The opening logos are backwards

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Alternate Versions

UK theatrical version was cut by distributor Fox to secure a more commercial '15' rating. The edits included the removal of a blood splash in the opening throat slashing, shots of a burned and partially naked woman screaming, shots of a woman's jaw being torn apart, and close-ups of a neck being cut with scissors. The DVD was upgraded to an '18' certificate and features the full uncut print.

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Connections

Referenced in Midnight Movie Review: Halloween Horror Top 25, nr. 6: Haute Tension (2010)

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Soundtracks

Happy Valentine's Day
Written by Michael Clark Gurley and Davis Le Duke
Performed by Billy Boy on Poison
Courtesy of Ironworks Music

User Reviews

Good atmosphere in a disappointing remake

French director Alexandre Aja exploded onto the horror scene in 2003 with excellent horror flick Switchblade Romance, but since then he's disappointingly veered off into remake territory. He can be forgiven somewhat for his first remake - an updating of the Wes Craven semi-classic The Hills Have Eyes - because it was quite good, but this next attempt - an Americanisation of South Korean film 'Mirrors', is not so successful. The basis for the plot is actually quite good and with some minor tweaks, Mirrors could have been a successful horror film. The plot focuses on Ben Carson; and ex-cop and ex-alcoholic who has been forced to take a night watchman's job in order to get his life back on track for the good of his children. His new job is at a shopping centre, which was forced to close down after a fire devastated the building. He soon notices that the mirrors in the building are extremely clean - as a result of the previous watchman's obsession with them - and he later finds out why, as there's an evil that lives in the mirrors; and Ben Carson is their next target.

The lead role is taken by Kiefer Sutherland. I've been a fan of Kiefer ever since I saw The Lost Boys; but he feels out of place in this film. It's probably just because I'm so used to seeing him as Jack Bauer that it's impossible to believe him doing any other role. The first half of the film is rather poor; the atmosphere of the former shopping centre is good, but most of the runtime is taken up by various CGI special effects going on in the mirrors, and it soon becomes tedious. Luckily, things pick up in the second half. There's a rather nasty murder scene; and then the film starts to develop a plot, which is fairly intriguing. It has to be said that the plot is rather lacking in logic at times, and all sorts of plot holes can be picked out; but then again, it is a film about evil inside mirrors at the end of the day. The revelation regarding how the mirrors became evil is a bit disappointing; I was hoping for something better, but at least the final twist is amusing. Overall, I can't recommend this film really but if it's a rainy day and you've got nothing else to watch, you could do worse than see this.