Jon Peters Reviews: “Mirrors”

I would like to propose a new policy to my fellow horror fans, which is let’s stop labeling a new director ‘the next big thing’, until we have seen a handful of his/her work. I like Alex Aja. I enjoyed his gritty survivalist films, ‘Haute Tension’ and ‘Hills Have Eyes’ remake, but like his ‘Splat Pack’ brothers, he has undone any good momentum with a horrible third film, ‘Mirrors’.

For those who don’t know the term and label ‘Splat Pack’, it is a term given to the current wave of hot new horror directors a few years ago, whose first films were bloody and raw. Rob Zombie, Eli Roth, James Wan, and Aja were the team, using the 1980’s ‘Brat Pack’ label to describe these hot, young directors, who each created a much talked about and actually good first films. Each of them has had the horror cred derailed with third film bombs. Zombie, who appears to be easily the most promising, had a messy third film, the uneven ‘Halloween’ remake, Eli Roth with a tired ‘Hostel II’, Wan who directed the first ‘Saw’ film, has probably never made it to a bad third film, as ‘Dead Silence’ killed his talents before ‘Death Sentence’ did. So, Aja was next. To me, this is all unfortunate, because I really want a new face of horror to follow.

Aja’s ‘Mirrors’ has him exploring the supernatural, a departure from his grim survival pictures, but at least his style is in tack. ‘Mirrors’ is grim, dark, and everything is dirty, while still expressing some ultra-violent gore. For the first half, the film was working. Kiefer Sutherland is believable as an ex-cop haunted by an accidental murder he committed, forcing him out of the force and into booze. He’s separated from his family, leaving with his younger sister (Amy Smart), and has got a new job watching a burned down department store, filled with mirrors. Aja sets up the terror quickly; a grisly opening murder and some strange stuff happening to Sutherland. Could it be ghosts or Sutherland’s troubled mind playing on him? It’s a quick set up but one that could’ve worked better if Aja would not have added the J-horror elements, that have become vastly tiring in American horror films.

I don’t deny Aja’s love of the genre; he has what it takes to make it consistently in the genre and having KNB do the gore is always a great idea (these guys always impress me), but he needs to focus on a more complete story structure that works from beginning to end. ‘Haute Tension’, as good as it is, has a completely left field ending leaving many distasteful on the film, ‘Hills Have Eyes’ succeeded by having a good team behind the script, but ‘Mirrors’ completely unravels by the third act. It’s overly-long for a ghost story (110 minutes) and has stuff happening that the film fails to explain properly or perhaps over explain? If anyone can help me understand the final 15 minutes, email me, but I believe it was hastily written and under-developed. Much like ‘Haute Tension’, ‘Mirrors’ has a completely ridiculous ending.

I like Aja and despite the film being ravaged by critics, I did find the first half to being entertaining enough. The film completely unravels into a mess and is not scary, even with a few money shots. Studios will release anything horror related hoping to make a buck but outside of some good independent and foreign fare, we can chalk ‘Mirrors’ up as another studio horror failure in 2008. Sorry Aja.