Mirrors Blu Ray Review

The Film:

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, and he has undone any good momentum with a horrible third film, and that for Aja would be 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 film. Each of them has had their horror cred derailed with third film plunders. 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 an equally bad second and third films in Dead Silence and in Death Sentence. 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 has 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 and even with 15 seconds of unrated goodness put back in the film, I say sorry Aja, redeem yourself in your fourth film…please.

The Blu Ray:

Audio/Video: The film is almost in constant darkness, but this disc does a good job of showcasing it. Solid transfer as expected and the audio are equally good and robust.

Reflections: In this making of featurette, we get a pretty good and thorough look at the production from almost everyone involved. It didn’t sell me on convincing me that this is a better film than I thought, but it’s a good look at making Mirrors.

Behind the Mirrors: This is a neat little extra which explores the various myths and some legends we have on mirrors. Kind of cool.

Deleted Scenes: A collection of extended and deleted scenes that aren’t much which is why they are here. We get Aja doing an optional commentary over these, giving us a reason why they are here instead of in the film.

P-I-P Commentary

Digital Copy

Conclusion: Nothing to get all excited about, Mirrors is a disappointment from the talent involved, although this is a nice disc. I say skip, but if curious just stick to renting.

Rating: