Mirrors

Mirrors is the U.S. remake of Korean horror movie Geoul Sokeuro, it is good and scary but not as much as the original one. The movie is about A mall security guard becomes wrapped up in a mystery involving a particular department store's mirrors which seem to bring out the worst in people. The story is almost the same as the original as well as the plot which are interesting although a little predictable. It has a good rhythm and the tension grows in its intensity as the movie moves along, these are two very good things because it never makes the movie tiresome to the viewer. The cast is good, Kiefer Sutherland gives a very convincing performance, although he reminded me of Jack Bauer in some moments of the film. Amy Smart's role was good but very short and Paula Patton as Kiefer character's wife gives a decent acting job. In conclusion, it was a good movie but it could be better.

This movie is certainly not the best horror movie I have seen but out of horror movies that come out now of days it is one of the better ones. The death scenes were a little over the top and gory but at least the movie didn't really on mostly gore that a lot of horror movies these days do. Keifer Suterland was pretty good and there were a few jump scares. I like it that they added a little bit of mystery to it. I give this movie a B for effort. It did seem a little long though, they could have made it at least a little bit shorter. They had some cool special effects like when the mirror got shot and the holes repaired themselves. Overall it was not that bad of a movie.

Another over-the-top American horror movie based on an Asian horror movie. Kiefer is alright but the other actors are pretty bad and the dialog is quite poor. Only the first third of "Mirrors" is any good. It's downhill after that as Kiefer tries to unravel the mystery of the mirrors. Instead of genuine creepiness, things jump out at every moment. And then there's the over-the-top finale which is unnecessary and awful.

I like the idea of abandoned places as the setting in horror movies. I watched the horror film "Session 9" after this and it was quite a bit better. The director knew what the director of "Mirrors" didn't know. Setting is crucially important in horror movies. "Mirrors" used the abandoned department store in its first third and then abandoned it for more scares outside. The film should have taken advantage of this setting and used it more. The film does backtrack to the abandoned store at the end of the film, but by then all mystery and suspense is gone from the place.

As a remake of a Korean film of 2003 this film tells the tale of a guy that picks up a job as a night-watchman in what is left over of a burned down department store. What starts as a somewhat dull somewhat creepy job quickly turns into a living nightmare.

There have been at least a dozen horror films where the evil lived on the other side of the mirror - nothing new here. Most of them share the same build up as this one: get to know the victim(s), get to know the evil(s), see them getting maimed/slaughtered/eaten one by one - nothing new here. In effect, this film is like nothing new all over and it would be a standard run of the mill one if it weren't for the fact that most of the settings used are worked out pretty nicely and that the ending isn't the normal sloppy one.

I haven't seen the original but I am interested into seeing it now that I have seen this one. It might be even better.

7 out of 10 mirrors on the wall

Maybe it's because I only heard bad things about this film. Practically every review said "disappointing," "skip it," etc.

So I got the DVD not really knowing what to think. I really liked Haute Tension and I like Kiefer Sutherland. Though the trailer made this look like Jack Bauer and Kim stop a mirror terrorist attack.

But once the opening credits started (with that great pre-credit scene), I was hooked.

Never once was I bored, and there were quite a few times I jumped out of my seat.

Maybe others figured out what the plot was all about, but it took me by surprise.

I found the film eerie, suspenseful, scary and well directed and acted.

And that house! not since Event Horizon have I see a production design so impressive! It was like another actor in the film. The people behind that work deserves an Academy Award, in my opinion.

I also loved the ending. Very un-Hollywood and while in retrospect it probably didn't make a lot of sense, somehow it 'felt' right to me.

All in all, I found this a refreshing take on a horror film... and considering the villain was a piece of glass, It think everyone did a great job.

Not sure why others didn't like it as much as I did, but all I can say I found it a very satisfying experience, and will probably watch it again one day.