Mirrors
Starring: Kiefer Sutherland, Paula Patton, Amy Smart, Cameron Boyce, Erica Gluck
Directed By: Alexandre Aja
Written By: Alexandre Aja, Grégory Levasseur
Released: 2008
Grade: B

Mirrors manages to resist the simple ghost story clichés and predictability. Even though it is not among the greatest, it still severely squashes the vast majority of mediocre films that have premises that are not all that different. It accomplishes this by having a solid story and doesn’t feel the need to reveal it in a big twist. Instead, it gradually is revealed to us at piece by piece at the same time our main character is learning and discovering the information for himself and learning what he has to do to stop what will otherwise be the inevitable.

Ben Carson (Sutherland) is an ex-cop who has made a few mistakes in his past that have taken away some of the most important things to him. He no longer has his job, his wife, Amy (Patton), and has to greatly struggle to even see his kids, Michael (Boyce) and Daisy (Gluck). Not to mention it is hard to get a hold of himself from the pain and urge to resist drinking during this. For awhile he even has a hard time trying to find a job and ends up staying with his sister, Angela (Smart). Ben eventually finds one as the security of an old burnt and destroyed shopping center. It is very dark and gloomy there and before long, Ben begins to hear things; people screaming for their life. Along with the pained voices, he starts to see horrifying images, particularly through the many mirrors that the building holds. When the man who previously held his position ends up dead with a sliced throat, a package from this very man is delivered to Ben. It is full of newspaper clippings of the fire in the mall and the man who confessed to the crime.

Ben gets the feeling that there is a connection between the death and something going wrong in the rundown mall. This man must have been trying to tell him something, most likely warning him of falling in to the same fate that he ended up with. Ben is searching for answers and in the mean time trying to take precautions. As he sees the people in his life getting deeper and deeper in to danger he attempts to take more drastic measures. Of course in doing so, Amy just thinks he is insane and attributes his belief of danger through the mirrors just being a side affect of the prescription drugs he is taking to make him resist alcohol. The more he tries, all she sees is instability and him as a danger to their kids, making it harder for him to protect them. Ben makes all efforts to find who is attacking through the mirrors and why. Figuring out the truth and reasoning and how to set it right may be his only line of defense, not just for him and his family but for anyone who comes in to contact with the mirrors.

The cast and Kiefer Sutherland in particular made the film a lot more believable and easier to respect. He was very realistic in his portrayal of Ben and gave him the right amount of struggle and understanding through his character as well as the information that he was gradually gaining on the horrors that are now haunting him. Amy Smart did well with her role and particularly in her scene with the attack of the mirror demons. She didn’t wasn’t the focus, but was a good supporting actor. Paula Patton did pretty well opposite of Kiefer Sutherland. She was believable in her role as a mother, an aggravated ex-wife, and even through her work dealing with the dead and the fight against the dead later on. She seemed intelligent and that common sense is what she defined her thinking on, pushing away any irrational thoughts. Cameron Boyce and Erica Gluck did a decent job in the film as the kids, serving their purpose in the movie.

There is not a ton of gore in the film. One of the best moments that does show more blood is with Amy Smart when she is in the bath and her mirror image rips her jaws in opposing direction to the point of nearly separating her head in to two pieces. It is mostly the motion of this happening and the snapping of the jaw while the blood is gushing around it. There are a few similar moments like this, but more importantly the mystery and whether or not the information our characters are searching for will really save them or not. We know that there has been some trouble in the past that they are dealing with. Mirrors manages to be an enjoyable ride mostly by giving us likeable characters that we know enough about, while still leaving a lot of empty and dark areas. Since there is a lot we don’t know we are more intrigued and interested to find out more. For a situation that seems so far off from reality, the back story actually seemed to have enough realism to it that made it seem like something more real than just a typical urban legend.

Even though Alexandra Aja’s last film’s haven’t quite measured up to High Tension, he still proves himself with each piece of work he involves himself in. Aja has a real eye for seeing a terrifying situation. He has a great eye for characters as well, which is something that can often be lost in horror movies. In P2 he brought out the terror of being stuck in a parking garage hunted by someone you walk past everyday. He was really able to bring out so much in his villain, which he surely did in High Tension as well. Mirrors has a much broader villain, which is brought out very well through the concept that the film is based on; that there could be a whole other parallel universe of evil that could have the power to control your every move through possession and get you to harm yourself in ways that you wouldn‘t wish on anyone. You would have no say or control in vicious acts. Mirrors are everywhere in our world and this thought of something evil in the mirror looking back is something worth exploring. I don’t want to go in to it too much, since the mystery is really the best part of the film, but there are some good themes that are dealt with within the evils and where they came from. Themes of searching, institutional wrongs, and running from entrapment of the darkness are dealt with and compliment the movie and our thirst for answers very well. Mirrors, although it won’t be remembered as one of the best, is still a suspenseful and enjoyable ghost story that deals with solid moral questioning that will keep you intrigued.