Mirrors

Ah, another U.S. remake of a Japanese horror. Apparently we do not know horror the way they do. I have not seen the original version, but I am very sure that it is not only better than this one, but truly terrifying. I’m not saying that this one wasn’t scary, I happen to find mirrors a frightful medium for horror. There were some great scenes and the end was enjoyable, what annoyed me was the story of how the demon got into and then back out of the mirror.

I think it’s great when a movie doesn’t waste time, our introduction to the horror of the mirrors is in the first scene where some shifty looking tooth pick of a man is running through the halls of some place in serious need of a make-over and ends in a locker room. Bad place to end because it is full of mirrors and holy shit, the man’s other mirror self takes on a life of its own (which is what freaks me out about mirrors) and proceeds to kill the man.

Enter the Keif. Again he is in law enforcement, or at least was. The keif plays a recovering alcoholic cop who was suspended for having poor aim and shooting another officer. So now he is a security guard on the night shift for a department store that was ravaged by a terrible fire several years earlier. So the building is in a legal dispute and is taking up prime New York real estate, not to mention funding a 24 hour security service to watch the place. We meet Keif on his first day as he gets the grand tour of the mirror filled building and is told that it stands where a psych hospital once stood. Of course, the ‘ol massacre in the hospital story. Not original.

So Keif works his rounds, finds the wallet of the man killed 15 minutes earlier and a name on a note, “Esseker.” Then he receives a package sent from the dead man from 15 minutes ago. I need to make a point here, if tooth pick guy knew Keif was replacing him, should he not have known not to hide in the locker room? Whatever. So Keif shares this with his sister whom he is living with after separating from his wife. He begins to see things in mirrors, and not just the mirrors in the store, but any reflective surface. His sister thinks he’s off his head, but changes her mind when her evil mirror self rips off her jaw in the bath.

He fears that the demon will come for his family next, which it does actually by making friends with his extremely freckled son. But once his wife sees the creepy mirror doubles she finally stops being a fiery Latino and believes that he is not in fact certifiable. Keif searches for the mystery of “Esseker” believing that this person has the answers and the ability to end the evil.

The movie lost all credibility for me once they unveil the demon. It is my opinion that horror movies are best when you never see the being or monster causing the havoc. Anyhow, it ends with a twist and redeems itself. I didn’t hate it, but it is not on par with the US remakes of The Grudge or The Ring but is not as bad as the remake of One Missed Call, the crappiness of that movie still haunts my dreams.