Mirrors

Let's hope this Korean remake doesn't begin a seven year streak of bad luck for the talented French horror director Alexandre Aja… actually, I liked Mirrors well enough (and it was a modest Summertime hit at $30m domestic) but I think it could have been a little less formulaic. (See: my review of the Mirrors theatrical release.) Fortunately, the DVD features an unrated version with a lot more suspense and gore (10 minutes worth) and an alternate ending.

The story basically follows Ben Carson (Kiefer Sutherland), a down-on-his luck cop with both personal and professional problems. Carson's life careens further out of control when he gets sucked into a netherworld of evil after he starts to see "things" in mirrors. As it turns out, there's a curse and he and his family are in deep trouble if he can't solve the mystery in time to set a certain soul to its peaceful, everlasting rest.

The DVD itself contains many additional release materials — but unfortunately, no commentary from Aja. I enjoy his commentaries, and would have loved to have heard a tete-a-tete of him and Sutherland reminiscing on the making-of.

Instead, we get a standard but quite lengthy Making-Of featurette, showing the actors on set and snippets of them doing junket-style interviews. Longtime Aja collaborator Grégory Levasseur has some interesting observations, but his accent is so thick he's actually subtitled! (I don't think that was entirely necessary, but some might find it helpful.) He and Aja both talk about how much they initially loved the concept, in spite of the "bad script" they were handed (I feel sorry for that writer; he or she is not named, at least). In reworking the script, their inspiration was Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (much like the inspiration for Aja's breakout film, Haute Tension, was William Lustig's Maniac), as well as the inherent scariness of mirrors and how that could be exploited.

My favorite extra on the DVD is entitled Behind The Mirror, and it delves into the mythology and psychology of it all. Along with the actors and filmmakers, professors  and folklorists add their .02 to this fascinating subject. Using everything Narcissus to Medusa as examples, they opine on the occultism of mirrors, as well as their practicality and many uses. Running approximately 18 minutes long, this plays out like a good documentary (sans commercials) on The History Channel. It's well-done.

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson