Mirrors (I) (2008)

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Brutal horror movie offers little to reflect on.

Mirrors Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

A lead character is a cop who is suspended for acc

Constant, brutal, and explicit violence, including

Some kissing; glimpses of naked buttocks and breas

Some, including "f--k," "s--t,&quot

Many brands are visible on screen, including Jack

A character discusses a problematic history with a

Parents need to know that this brutal horror movie is graphically, grotesquely, and grimly violent, featuring extensive sequences of special-effects gore. Disturbing, gory images are lingered over, and the film's magical-mirror plotline -- in which mystical reflection images are recreated in the real world --…

Positive Messages

A lead character is a cop who is suspended for accidentally shooting an undercover officer. Lead characters are dealing with a marriage shattered by tragedy; a child overhears his parents arguing. Demonic possession and theological elements are involved in the plot.

Violence & Scariness

Constant, brutal, and explicit violence, including slashed throats (seen repeatedly in close-up and later in photos); knife wounds; flesh wounds from shards of shattered mirrors; drowning induced by unseen supernatural forces (including that of a child); a grotesque special-effects sequence in which a woman's mirror reflection tears her own jaw loose, fatally replicating the grisly wound on her real-life counterpart; a mutilated body is seen floating in a bathtub; a half-naked female burn victim seen crying in agony; several burn victims seen in supernatural visions; a psychiatric patient being manhandled and restrained; corpses being autopsied shown in great detail; a woman cut to bloody ribbons by exploding mirrors; a character battling an elderly demon-possessed woman in intense close-quarters fighting (her demise includes being shot, impaled with a steam pipe, immolated in an explosion, and crushed with falling debris). Children are in peril. Extensive discussion of a fire with dozens of fatalities and a massacre at a hospital which left 15 dead. A nun is essentially kidnapped at gunpoint.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Some kissing; glimpses of naked buttocks and breasts. A lead female character dresses primarily in low-cut tops, wet tops, or low-cut and wet tops.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Some, including "f--k," "s--t," "dammit," "hell," and "bitch."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Many brands are visible on screen, including Jack Daniels, Quaker Oats, Heineken, Dodge automobiles, UPS, Smirnoff, Crown Royal, Amnesty International, and more.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

A character discusses a problematic history with alcohol, noting that they "haven't had a drink in three months." The same character is using a prescription drug with serious side effects to stop drinking. A scene is set in a bar.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this brutal horror movie is graphically, grotesquely, and grimly violent, featuring extensive sequences of special-effects gore. Disturbing, gory images are lingered over, and the film's magical-mirror plotline -- in which mystical reflection images are recreated in the real world -- means that, in many cases, viewers literally get to see the same horrifically violent acts twice. There's also a demonic-possession element to the plot, as well as a bit of sexuality, some strong language, and references to a drinking problem. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

  • Parents say (10)
  • Kids say (18)

Based on 10 parent reviews

Innapropriate

Shockingly terrible., what's the story.

Haunted by doubt and guilt after accidentally killing an undercover officer, suspended NYPD detective Ben Carson's ( Kiefer Sutherland ) marriage is shattered, and he's forced to take a nighttime security guard position at the burnt-out wreckage of a department store in hopes that he might be able to move on from crashing with his sister, Angela ( Amy Smart ). As Ben tours the ruins each night, he starts seeing grim, grisly visions in the store's mirrors -- visions that somehow leap from the glass into the real world. As the malevolent force behind the mirrors poses an increasing threat to Ben's friends and family, he has to unravel the mystery of the force hidden behind the mirrors ... and ask himself whether satisfying the force's demands will really end the threat to his family.

Is It Any Good?

Helmed by French horror director Alexandre Aja ( The Hills Have Eyes , High Tension ), MIRRORS is long on gore and short on plot. Ben flails, freaks out, and fumbles around trying to decipher the visions and messages he's receiving from the mystical dimension behind the mirrors. (The department store, it seems, used to be a hospital, and the past treatment of a schizophrenic girl lies at the heart of the mystery.)

Even as Ben frantically tries to keep his estranged wife ( Paula Patton ) and children safe, Mirrors doesn't do much to make viewers care; the mirror visions are so powerful that they can't be ignored or denied, which means that the film simply limps from one bloody sequence to another. Aja's other horror films, while also grisly, had a certain style to them; in Mirrors , the slack plot is just an excuse for a series of gory, violent moments that the film lingers on lovingly. Mirrors has plenty of spooks and scares and special effects; what it doesn't have is much of a plot -- or characters worth caring about.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the nature and character of bloody horror films. Why does Hollywood make them, and what purpose do they serve? This movie -- like The Ring , The Grudge , and Pulse -- is a remake of an Asian horror film; why has Hollywood found Asian horror films so worthy of re-visitation over the past few years? Do violent horror films release negative emotional energy or create it? Can violent, graphic images in films like this desensitize viewers? Does it matter whether the goriness seems "over the top"?

Movie Details

  • In theaters : August 15, 2008
  • On DVD or streaming : January 12, 2009
  • Cast : Amy Smart , Kiefer Sutherland , Paula Patton
  • Director : Alexandre Aja
  • Inclusion Information : Female actors, Black actors
  • Studio : Twentieth Century Fox
  • Genre : Horror
  • Run time : 110 minutes
  • MPAA rating : R
  • MPAA explanation : strong violence, disturbing images, language and brief nudity.
  • Last updated : April 26, 2023

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2008, Horror/Mystery & thriller, 1h 52m

What to know

Critics Consensus

Inconsistency and listless plot make this K-horror remake a less-than-frightening time at the movies. Read critic reviews

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Where to watch mirrors.

Rent Mirrors on Vudu, or buy it on Apple TV.

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Mirrors   photos.

In a bid to pull his shattered life back together, troubled ex-cop Ben Carson (Kiefer Sutherland) takes a job as a security guard at the burned out ruins of a once-prosperous department store. As Ben patrols the charred hallways, he begins to see horrifying images in the ornate mirrors that still adorn the walls. Ben soon realizes that a malevolent force is using the mirrors to gain entrance into this world, threatening the lives of his wife (Paula Patton) and children.

Rating: R (Disturbing Images|Brief Nudity|Language|Strong Violence)

Genre: Horror, Mystery & thriller

Original Language: English

Director: Alexandre Aja

Producer: Grégory Levasseur , Alexandra Milchan , Marc Sternberg

Writer: Alexandre Aja , Grégory Levasseur

Release Date (Theaters): Aug 15, 2008  wide

Release Date (Streaming): Aug 22, 2016

Box Office (Gross USA): $30.7M

Runtime: 1h 52m

Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Production Co: New Regency Pictures

Sound Mix: SDDS, DTS, Dolby SRD

Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

Cast & Crew

Kiefer Sutherland

Paula Patton

Angela Carson

Cameron Boyce

Michael Carson

Arika Gluck

Daisy Carson

Mary Beth Peil

Anna Esseker

John Shrapnel

Lorenzo Sapelli

Jason Flemyng

Larry Byrne

Julian Glover

Robert Esseker

Ezra Buzzington

Terrence Berry

Alexandre Aja

Grégory Levasseur

Alexandra Milchan

Marc Sternberg

Marc S. Fischer

Executive Producer

Andrew Hong

Javier Navarrete

Original Music

Joseph C. Nemec III

Production Design

Maxime Alexandre

Cinematographer

Film Editing

Ellen Mirojnick

Costume Design

Michael Dennison

Deborah Aquila

Mary Tricia Wood

Jennifer L. Smith

Liz Griffiths

Set Decoration

Ian Whittaker

News & Interviews for Mirrors

Exclusive: Alexandre Aja talks Mirrors and Piranha 3D

RT’s Summer in Review: The Best, The Worst, and Our Favorite Films!

Critics Consensus: Tropic Thunder Is Certified Fresh

Critic Reviews for Mirrors

Audience reviews for mirrors.

Pretty good and entertaining. Sutherland literally plays the role like Jack Bauer, so it's a lot of fun to watch all the crazy stuff he does, especially once his character starts to become unhinged by the supernatural events of the story. The ending of Mirrors is pretty cool and a has a nice twist, even if it does kind of feel that story is somewhat unresolved by it.

horror movie review mirrors

Kiefer Sutherland just can't get out of the 24HR Role, what ever movie you see him in you see his role as the maniac with a gun who has a badge, That being said in this movie his acting was as bad as ever but the story line of this movie was very creepy, not many movies that deal with horror bother me but this one did, I haven't looked at my reflection since. About a hotel in NYC that burned and is now guarded by private security, the mirrors left over from an hospital are possessed, spine chilling worth 4 stars for story line.

It was fairly a decent movie but the ending made absolutely no sense at all.

Scary but fairly original and really boring, was switching off now and again. It's ok!

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Evil movie mirrors, ranked by how evil those mirrors get

Exploring the terror of what lurks behind mirrors

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There are certain tropes and symbols that recur throughout horror fiction — undead creatures , restless spirits , uncontrollable transformations . They tap into the part of the human brain that needs explanations and hates ambiguity. So it’s not surprising that mirrors, those image-flipping sheets of silvered glass, land on that list. Even on a good day, there’s something unsettling about your reflection, and fright flicks throughout the years have pulled out mirrors for all manner of scares.

In the spirit of accuracy, I recently watched every movie I could find with an evil or supernatural mirror and ranked them by how well those mirrors worked. This includes possessed mirrors, mirrors as portals to bad places, mirrors that create monsters, and even a few uncategorizable entries. These rankings don’t reflect the movies themselves, only the mirror scenes, so let’s get reflecting.

38. Paranormal Activity 3

The Paranormal Activity series taps into nearly every overused horror trope, so it’s not surprising that malevolent mirrors have taken a turn in the found footage barrel. In the third installment, two people videotape themselves playing “Bloody Mary” in the bathroom, but (after a fake-out) a malevolent spirit is released that scratches the older one and causes a ruckus outside. We don’t see anything in the mirror itself, because we never see anything in any of these movies, so this one barely counts.

37. Urban Legends: Bloody Mary

One of the best-known tall tales around mirrors is Bloody Mary, where if you chant her name three times in front of a mirror she will materialize and murder you. This direct-to-DVD flick posits Mary as a murdered high school girl in 1969, who pops up in 2004 after being summoned by a group of outcasts and goes on a murder spree. There’s not a whole lot of mirror action here.

The portals in this 2002 effort appear in numerous locations, but one of them is a bathroom mirror so here we go. Four people afflicted by night terrors discover that they’re actually being tormented by mysterious creatures from another dimension who breach into our world when they sleep. Not a lot to recommend with this one but a decent mirror scene nonetheless.

35. Amityville: A New Generation

When a mirror from the cursed house in the first Amityville Horror winds up in a boarding house (through an absurdly convoluted series of events), it brings with it a demon that leaves its reflective prison to take on other forms and murder the residents.

34. The Skeleton Key

In this mediocre 2005 hoodoo movie set in a decrepit Louisiana plantation, a young hospice aide takes a job looking after the elderly inhabitants of the house. She soon discovers that two former slaves have been using their magic to hop into new bodies, entrapping people through a full-length mirror that transplants their personas. It’s not anything special, but it’s an evil mirror so it counts.

33. Mothman

The Mothman legend we all know and love is that of a mysterious cryptid who hangs out in the West Virginia boonies. But in this straight-to-DVD stinker, our boy is repurposed as a spirit summoned by a Native American chief named “Cornstalk” that can only enter our reality through reflective surfaces. What exactly this has to do with the Mothman is up for interpretation.

32. It Chapter Two

The malevolent spirit that manifests as Pennywise loves himself a carnival, so there’s naturally a hall of mirrors scene . When Bill charges into the funhouse to keep the clown from feasting on another child, he gets trapped in a hallucinatory maze of reflections that baffles and delays him long enough for It to get another meal. Are these mirrors supernatural and evil or physical and just annoying? Hard to tell, but we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.

31. The Changeling

There’s only a brief mirror bit in this 1980 Canadian psychological horror entry, but it’s done well. When a composer mourning the death of his wife and daughter moves to a Seattle mansion, he is assailed by supernatural forces until he unravels a mystery that stretches back almost a hundred years. One of the incidents involves a mirror shattering into his face, and it’s a short, sharp scare that works great.

30. Night Of The Demons

In general, partying in an abandoned mortuary isn’t recommended. When a group of teens breaks into Hull House and holds a seance, a demon appears in a mirror and then breaks out of the crematorium that’s been holding it. It’s a very brief scene, all things considered, but getting the first peek at the creature is something special.

29. The Boogeyman

Typically the childhood scourge of bedtime comes out from the closet or under the bed, but in this 1980 horror cheapie the Boogeyman is actually the ghost of a woman’s dead boyfriend trapped in the mirror he was stabbed to death in front of … by her son. Oedipus much? Anyways, 20 years later the spirit comes back for vengeance in increasingly bizarre ways wherever even a small piece of the broken mirror is found.

28. From Beyond The Grave

British studio Amicus Productions knocked out horror anthologies at a steady clip throughout the ’60s and ’70s, with this one being its final effort. In From Beyond The Grave , a quartet of customers of an antique shop find themselves cursed by their purchases. The first segment stars David Warner as a man who purchases an antique mirror and is captivated by the spirit within to murder people until it builds the strength to leave its reflective prison.

27. Peeping Tom

There are no paranormal elements to the mirror in this 1960 thriller, but it’s certainly evil enough to snag a place here. Carl Boehm plays a photographer who murders women, using a round mirror mounted on the top of his camera so they can see their own faces as they die. At the end of the film, he drives his knife into himself, capturing his demise as the grand finale of his project.

26. Grim Prairie Tales

Two travelers swap ghost stories around a campfire in this Western horror oddity made on a shoestring budget in the Mojave Desert, shot by Janusz Kamiński, who would go on to shoot Schindler’s List . The fourth tale is about a gunman, played by Scott Paulin, who kills a rival in a shootout but is then haunted by his ghost. In one notable scene, he’s shaving with a straight razor when he spots the apparition in the mirror as it grips his arm and tries to force him to slash his own throat.

25. The Watcher In The Woods

When an American family moves into a rural English manor, one of the daughters starts seeing the apparition of a blindfolded girl in the house’s mirrors. It turns out she was the victim of a ritual gone wrong that swapped her with a mysterious creature from another dimension, and now can only communicate through reflective surfaces.

24. Conan The Destroyer

This doesn’t have the bombast of the John Milius original, but it’s more colorful and weird. One of the best bits comes when Conan is forced to battle a gross monster in a hall of mirrors, defeating it by shattering the glass around him. It’s then revealed that the beast was the wizard Thoth-Amon in disguise, played by pro wrestler Pat Roach.

23. Hellraiser: Bloodline

The fourth installment in the long-running franchise saw director Kevin Yagher pull his name off the finished film to have “ Alan Smithee ” take the credit, so you know it has to be good. Wait, no, it’s not. That said, the movie is full of mirrors, and it includes one memorable scene where the cenobite Angelique pulls a man through a mirror and decapitates him, leaving his headless corpse to plop to the floor with a sticky thump.

22. A Nightmare On Elm Street

The 2010 reboot of Wes Craven’s franchise is perfectly fine, but not all that necessary. It does have one great mirror scare at the end, though, as Jackie Earl Haley’s Freddy stabs through the reflective surface to kill Nancy’s mother and pull her into the dream world. It’s a better version of a similar effect from the original, which used an unconvincing blow-up doll pulled through a window.

21. The Conjuring

James Wan’s 2013 franchise-starter throws a lot of stuff at the walls, much in the mode of its inspiration Poltergeist . One of the primary methods that the paranormal forces (mustered by the spirit of the witch Bathsheba Sherman) use is a music box with a mirror inlaid in the lid, which also displays the evil doll Annabelle.

20. Dark Mirror

This 2007 low-budget chiller features a family of three that moves to a Los Angeles house with massive windows and mirrors. The mother, a photographer, soon discovers that anybody she takes a picture of dies horribly. The culprit is the spirit of one of the home’s prior owners, a painter who was betrayed by her husband and possessed by a supernatural force that made her images real.

19. Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

Razor-gloved murder aficionado Freddy Krueger is a creature of dreams, so he loves optical illusions. In the climactic scene of Dream Warriors , Freddy creates a hall of mirrors in Joey’s dream to suck in the team of teens who have hypnotized themselves to confront him. Obviously things don’t work out for them, but Joey finds his voice and screams so loud the mirrors shatter and release our heroes.

18. Prince Of Darkness

When a group of quantum physicists become trapped in a Los Angeles monastery while investigating a tube of mysterious green fluid that might be Satan, a frenzy of possession, murder, and other supernatural shenanigans kicks off. The devil’s plan is to summon an even worse dude, the “Anti-God,” into our plane through a mirror, and a few reflective surfaces are shattered in the attempt.

17. Snow White: A Tale Of Terror

The magic mirror in Disney’s Snow White was the progenitor, but this odd 1997 horror flick goes one better. In the reimagining of the famous fairy tale, the mirror itself is the cause of the stepmother’s homicidal impulses. Sigourney Weaver plays Claudia Hoffman, driven by jealousy of her stepdaughter Lilli to use the mirror’s dark gifts to torment and murder. In the movie’s climactic scene, Lilli stabs the mirror itself with a shard of glass, making it explode.

Mike Flanagan’s Oculus revolves around a cursed mirror named the Lasser Glass, which has the ability to induce hallucinations when it’s gazed into. When the Russell family encounters it for the first time, it leads to the deaths of parents Alan and Marie. 11 years later, the surviving children must contend with the mirror’s eldritch effects as they try to prove that it killed their parents.

15. Mirror Mirror

When teenage goth Megan Gordon moves to Iowa from Los Angeles in this 1990 flick, there’s not much she likes about her new house except for a huge, ornate mirror. Bad news! There’s a demon in it, which starts messing with her bullies and, eventually, killing people. Megan rolls with it, but when her mother gets mangled in the garbage disposal she turns against her reflective friend and eventually sacrifices herself to stop it.

14. Mirrors

This 2008 horror movie gets right to it in the title. A night security guard at a burned-out department store is tormented by visions in the many mirrors still standing, but inside them is a demon that manifested when the building was a psychiatric hospital, or something. It’s a pretty huge mess but there are a lot of clever scares and reflective effects to enjoy, so it ranks decently.

This 1986 cult classic has a rep for its innovative and effective effects. When horror author Roger Cobb moves into his dead aunt’s house, he finds himself tormented by Vietnam flashbacks as well as spiritual shenanigans. One of the hubs for these events is the mirrored bathroom medicine cabinet, which Roger breaks with a footstool to reveal an infinite void full of nasties.

12. Mirrors 2

The direct-to-DVD sequel is actually better than the first film. It takes us back to the haunted department store, but this time the malevolent spirit is a young female employee who was drugged and murdered at the store’s grand opening party, and buried in the basement. Now her ghost is looking to get revenge on the men responsible in a number of pretty solid mirror kill scenes.

11. An American Werewolf In London

There are so many great scenes in this movie, but the bit where protagonist David Kessler is in the bathroom and gets the hell scared out of him when his dead friend Jack appears to him in the mirror is an all-timer. Like the rest of the film, it’s simultaneously hilarious and horrifying, as Jack’s state of decay is conveyed with tremendous Rick Baker makeup.

10. The Broken

Cracking a mirror is an omen of bad luck, especially in 2008’s The Broken . In that movie, doppelgangers identical to regular people but with the positions of their internal organs reversed enter our world through shattering reflections. They proceed to murder the originals for unknown reasons. Great paranoia vibe in this one, along with a lot of breaking glass.

9. Dead Of Night

One of the earliest films on this list, this surprisingly good 1945 horror anthology has a segment built around a cursed mirror that belonged to a cuckolded husband. The man suspected his wife of cheating on him and killed her before slitting his own throat in front of the mirror. Its new owner then became possessed by the spirit of the glass and nearly duplicated the crime before the mirror was shattered.

8. Poltergeist

Tobe Hooper’s 1982 horror classic is relentlessly innovative in the ways it torments the Freeling family and the people in their orbit. One of the most memorable scenes involves Dr. Marty Casey, an investigator called in to help figure out what’s wrong with the house. Alone at night, he stops in the kitchen for a snack and sees maggots spawning from meat. He then runs to the utility room to wash his face only to see his own flesh peeling from his face in a grisly display. It’s a sharp, effective bit.

7. Phantasm

This cult classic is best-known for the reflective metal murder balls used by the film’s antagonist the Tall Man, but it has a great evil mirror scene as well. In the movie’s coda, as our surviving hero Mike is getting ready to pack up and leave town, the presumably deceased Tall Man appears in Mike’s bedroom mirror, thrusting his hands through the glass and pulling Mike inside. It’s a great bit that perfectly fits in with the dreamlike logic of the movie.

6. Candyman

Based on a Clive Barker short story, the Candyman is a malevolent spirit that haunts Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing projects, summoned by having his name chanted five times into a mirror. The movie’s prime mirror scare comes right at the end, as Virginia Madsen’s character has her own name used to summon her for revenge.

5. The Legacy

Richard Marquand’s 1978 directorial debut is a fascinating little Gothic horror tale about a Los Angeles couple summoned to a British mansion where the decaying lord of the manor has assembled his heirs. Things aren’t quite what they seem, of course, and a spectral force starts murdering them in entertaining ways. The movie’s mirror scene is a really good one, with the reflecting glass exploding into a deadly spray of shards that impales a woman, then reassembles itself.

4. Poltergeist III

The original Poltergeist has one very good mirror scare, but the second sequel is built around reflections almost all the way through. It’s certainly not as good a movie, but the myriad uses of mirrors and surfaces to show the spirit world and the machinations of the evil Henry Kane are excellent, letting it rank higher on this list. Great practical effects by Cal Acord still look convincing today.

3. Into The Mirror

This 2003 Korean horror film was the inspiration for Mirrors , but a bunch of stuff changed along the way. A police officer traumatized from his partner’s death takes a job working security for an abandoned, fire-damaged shopping mall. While the American version of the film trades on jump scares and gore, this one is slower, more contemplative, and significantly more ambitious. Some of the coolest trick mirror shots you’ll ever see are found in this one, so hunt it down.

2. The Shining

Mirror imagery appears throughout Stanley Kubrick’s all-time horror classic. The Overlook Hotel is full of reflections, from the dead twins tormenting Danny to the mirrors in every scene where Jack interacts with the ghosts. But the most iconic scene comes when Wendy looks into her bedroom mirror to see Danny’s lipstick-scrawled “REDRUM” reversed to “MURDER” on the door.

1. Evil Dead II

The many supernatural shenanigans that plague Ash Williams across the Evil Dead franchise are too abundant to list, but one of the most iconic comes when he gazes into a mirror inside the cursed cabin and releases an evil doppelgänger of himself. Sam Raimi is a master of camera cuts and practical effects, so this low-tech scene still feels real and surprising decades later.

Trick or Trope

A woman ready to be sacrificed for Satan sits up to gasp

  • Twentieth Century Fox

Summary Ex-cop Ben Carson takes a job as a night watchman at the burned-out ruins of the Mayflower department store. As he patrols the eerie, charred remains of the store, he begins to notice something sinister about the ornate mirrors that adorn the Mayflower walls. Reflected in the gigantic shimmering glass are horrific images that stun Carson ... Read More

Directed By : Alexandre Aja

Written By : Grégory Levasseur, Sung-ho Kim, Alexandre Aja

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Mirrors

Where to watch

2008 Directed by Alexandre Aja

There is evil...On the other side.

An ex-cop and his family are the target of an evil force that is using mirrors as a gateway into their home.

Kiefer Sutherland Paula Patton Amy Smart Jason Flemyng Cameron Boyce Erica Gluck Ioana Abur Mary Beth Peil John Shrapnel Tim Ahern Julian Glover Josh Cole Ezra Buzzington Aida Doina Darren Kent Roz McCutcheon Adina Rapiteanu William Meredith Bart Sidles Cai Man Jingdong Qin Anca Damacus Tudor Stroescu Liliana Donici Aurelia Radulescu George Dumitrescu Irina Săulescu Valeriu Pavel Greg Nicotero Show All… Peter Sebastian Wrobel

Director Director

Alexandre Aja

Producers Producers

Grégory Levasseur Marc Sternberg Alexandra Milchan Vlad Păunescu

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Arnon Milchan Kiefer Sutherland Marc S. Fischer Andrew Hong

Writers Writers

Grégory Levasseur Alexandre Aja

Original Writer Original Writer

Kim Sung-ho

Casting Casting

Deborah Aquila Jennifer L. Smith Tricia Wood

Editor Editor

Cinematography cinematography.

Maxime Alexandre

Production Design Production Design

Joseph C. Nemec III

Art Direction Art Direction

Stephen Bream Vlad Roseanu

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Liz Griffiths Ian Whittaker

Special Effects Special Effects

Lucian Iordache Mark Vanstone Dirk Rogers Alistair Bell Edi Balan Tom Bryan Mircea Frenkel Christopher Hayes Noah Meddings Russell Pritchett Simon Quinn Ovidiu Ursaru

Visual Effects Visual Effects

Stéphane Bidault Daniel Brimer David Fogg Michael Dean Connolly David Espinoza Jeffrey Olney

Composer Composer

Javier Navarrete

Costume Design Costume Design

Ellen Mirojnick Michael Dennison

Makeup Makeup

Greg Nicotero Howard Berger Gino Crognale Gabi Cretan Donald Mowat Jaremy Aiello Mike McCarty Akihito Ikeda Robert Maverick

Regency Enterprises New Regency Pictures Luna Pictures ASAF Castel Film

Romania USA

Releases by Date

15 aug 2008, 22 aug 2008, 10 sep 2008, 18 sep 2008, 25 sep 2008, 03 oct 2008, 29 oct 2008, 06 nov 2008, 16 feb 2008, 15 apr 2009, 25 feb 2012, releases by country.

  • Theatrical MA15+
  • Theatrical 12
  • Theatrical 18
  • Physical 18 DVD

Netherlands

  • Theatrical 16
  • Physical 16 DVD, Blu ray
  • TV 16 Veronica
  • Theatrical M/16

South Korea

  • Theatrical 청소년 관람불가
  • Physical 18
  • Theatrical R

111 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Jordan Beaumont Anderson

Review by Jordan Beaumont Anderson ★★ 6

Any mirror is scary if you're ugly enough.

Ian West

Review by Ian West ★★ 1

This felt ripe for a revisit because I'm an optimist and I like Aja’s work but this is a prime example of squandered potential… a director on the rise coming off arguably his best film, an eerie atmospheric setting (burnt down abandoned department store), and an interesting premise involving something so simple yet effective... Mirrors.

Starts out strong (despite the stock 'down and out ex cop' trope) with few nicely executed scenes/jump scares in the abandoned store, but as more time passes this thing just starts to flounder. We get a few pulse raising moments halfway through (that bathtub death is fantastic) and some cool spooky mirror shit but in the long run I couldn't help but feel like this…

Sam Thompson

Review by Sam Thompson ★★½ 4

It's alright I guess. Besides a couple of memorable scenes, and believe me they are super memorable, this is a pretty forgettable affair. Just a giant meh that I won't return to you know. It feels like a concept that could be done so much better. Whatever.

a ☭

Review by a ☭ ★★½ 1

1. The main characters name is Ben Carson 2. I don't think this movie had a middle section because if it did I don't remember it and I literally just finished it 3. There's a really fucking cool kill scene in a bathtub that brought me back to The Golden Days Of J Horror and I almost started crying 4. I want to call Alexandre Aja my favorite director even though he kinda sucks

Chris Evangelista

Review by Chris Evangelista ★½ 3

This is bad but I love that Kiefer Sutherland spends the entire movie FURIOUS. He’s not scared, he’s ANNOYED by these fucking mirrors.

King #adoptdontshop

Review by King #adoptdontshop ★★★ 1

Mirrors is a supernatural horror about an entity who haunts thru mirrors. This Alexandre Aja film is best remembered for that INSANE bathtub scene where a girl ripped her jaw open. The plot is fresh, and there're actually good, effective build-ups as the storytelling delivered original scare tactics, never before seen jump-scares, and a nice final twist.

But Mirrors got less and less sensible (with some minor plot-holes too) and the cast's acting strengths - including Kiefer Sutherland on the lead role - comes and goes. Overall an average movie but at some point, you'd wish the evil entity to just jam a pointed shard on Sutherland's skull and end it all.

Tony the Terror

Review by Tony the Terror ★★★½ 1

So this movie is so completely stupid that it circles back around to being kinda great! Like not so great that I’m willing to shower it with 4 or 5 stars, but just a really ridiculous and lovable hot mess.

The whole concept with mirrors is a good one, but overall I preferred it in Poltergeist III  when it wasn’t accompanied by a bunch of cgi effects. Actually, the best part of the movie is the stretch that takes place in Keifer and Paula’s house with the water running everywhere because it goes full tilt Poltergeist III  even though it feels like an entirely different movie from the rest of Mirrors.  They should have taken that part out and filmed a whole new movie…

Graham

Review by Graham ★★★½ 6

Clearly the problem here is the inability of these people to pronounce the word mirror properly. No it’s not a ‘meerrrr’, and that perhaps is where it all started. All the vowels got together in a secret meeting at the monastery and thought ‘OK, that's enough… it’s time to hit back’.

I haven’t had much sleep. Can you tell?

Ok, so I’ll just put it out there that this is an absolute banger. Mirrors is a film that starts strong and retains a sense of danger throughout, and then, boom! That one scene, with the girl in the bath… wowsers, that shit was gnarly.

"What a pain in the glass."

#notarealquote

Kiefer Sutherland is seeing things from behind the mirrors,…

ram<3

Review by ram<3 ★★

the poster is way scarier than the movie

ab

Review by ab ★ 4

Fuck this shit Tarkovsky failed hard with this one

Matthew L. Brady

Review by Matthew L. Brady ★★

Well that's me done looking at mirrors.

This movie can be scary and gross with the blood and gore, but it dose have it's dull and flat moments that sometimes made it hard to watch at times.

Jared Gilman

Review by Jared Gilman

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Mirrors (Movie Review)

Jon schnaars's rating: ★ ½ director: alexandre aja | release date: 2008.

Bloated as it is with cliche, Alexandre Aja's "Mirrors" really doesn't require much of a synopsis. The film's very core — haphazardly constructed around the fleeting existential angst one feels when looking into a mirror — is worn so thin, so quickly that it is rendered ridiculous almost from the outset. A remake of a 2003 South Korean film, "Mirrors"'s one true virtue is that it provides a glimpse of what other J-horror fare might be like had it been gore-ed up for an R-rating. But even Aja's relative skill at deploying grisly action couldn't buoy a story that otherwise felt too often off-kilter and downright silly.

Just so we're all on the same page, "Mirrors" is the story of Ben Carson, fallen-cop-turned-security-guard. He's a walking bundle of cheap characterizations. He turned to drinking to ward off the stress of loosing his police gig, which in turn led to the loss of his family. He's down and out, and otherwise, there's little about him we know, or ever need to know. Ben's able to nail down a job as the night watchman for a once prominent department store that has stood desecrated ever since a fire rendered it a ghostly shell. The eponymous mirrors in this building, however, all appear untouched, and from his very first day these mirrors take an unnatural interest in Ben, and eventually in everyone that he loves.

As it was written "Mirrors" really lives or dies with the character of Ben, and because of this, the casting of Keifer Sutherland seemed like a good choice. He's undoubtedly a strong presence and has shown, at least in his TV work, that he can carry a production. Unfortunately, someone may have forgotten to tell Mr. Sutherland that he was playing Ben Carson, and not Jack Bauer. There are many similarities between the two characters, but it doesn't help that Sutherland (whether prompted by Aja or not) occasionally veers wildly into Bauer-mode. It may be that Sutherland will have to truly break the mold to get away from the associations with his "24" character, but judging by how frequently the film leaned on the Sutherland-as-Bauer mystique, one can only assume it was an intentional decision here.

That casting decision is the most superficial of the films' problems, though it certainly set the stage for others. Like virtually every film in the J-horror mold, "Mirrors" is structured like a mystery film. In some instances, this combination of whodunit tension and horror induced anxiety can make for a potent cocktail. In many ghost stories — not just those that have been making their way out of Japan, Korea and Thailand in recent years — the central character is a detective or journalist or just a curious soul who stumbles onto a supernatural thread that needs to be followed to its conclusion. The problem is, for this narrative device to function, the detective work needs to be believable and interesting in its own right, and that which must be detected cannot strain the ability of the audience to suspend disbelief.

"Mirrors", sadly, fails at both of these efforts. Carson never truly seems to earn his information through anything other than luck, and the bread crumbs are sprinkled by Aja such that there's not a whole lot of guess work to be done by the audience. Then, once Carson has achieved his goal and uncovered that which underlies the mirrors' ill behavior, the solution feels like little more than an after thought, cooked up to explain a ghostly phenomenon that the filmmaker thought would make for interesting cinematography. sexprice.ch

Thankfully, on that point, Aja guessed correctly. While from a plot perspective "Mirrors" never attains anything close to excellence, Aja has managed to imbue the film with enough visual style and flare that it almost, for the briefest of moments, overcomes its many flaws. The use of mirrors allows for several interesting framing choices, and the specter of the burned out department store provides ample scenery for some eerie scenes, particularly in the early going. The positives from a visual perspective are offset to some degree though, by poor use of CGI in a handful of spots, which wouldn't be nearly so bad if it wasn't so conspicuous.

More so than most, "Mirrors" can be read as a promising trailer that culminated in disappointment. The central premise ("the mirrors are possessed!") is just juicy enough to sustain a two and a half minute clip reel. When stretched to feature length, "Mirrors" veers away from the slow burn of a good ghost story until it crashes headlong into monster movie tropes (which wouldn't be awful in and of itself, but when Act I and Act III clash, well, that's not a good thing). That no other actor can match Sutherland's over-the-top-to-the-point-of-distraction intensity makes for a tough ride. At over an hour and 45 minutes, "Mirrors" first pushes the audiences to the brink of incredulity, and then plows right on into madness. The film's climax, and brief denouement, do provide some thrills and even a cute little twist, but by that point it's too late. "Mirrors" fails to reflect back any coherent anxieties, and outside of a few jump scares, offers little in the way of horror for genre fans.

Jon Schnaars

Writer/podcast co-host/business guy.

If you have questions about doing business with BGH, this is the man to speak with. Jon also enjoys the fancier things, like monocles and silent-era horror films.

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Mirrors (2008) – HORROR MOVIE REVIEW

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“What do you want from me”- Ben Carson (Kiefer Sutherland)

Ben Carson (Kiefer Sutherland) is an ex-cop who was released from duty after becoming an alcoholic. Though the addiction was the result of killing someone while on-duty his wife Amy (Paula Patton) separates from him. He moves out of his home and onto his sister Angela’s (Amy Smart) couch. He seeks medical treatment and is put on a drug to stop drinking. Soon, he finds work as a security guard.

His new job entails patrolling “The Mayflower,” an old department store that was burned in a fire years before. Inside, mirrors cover every wall. Upon first entering, Ben finds it odd that the mirrors are still polished and mentions it to Sapelli (John Shrapnel) the senior security guard who is training him. Sapelli notes that it was another guard that had kept the mirrors clean. He states that the man was obsessed with them.

Soon, Ben begins seeing odd things in the mirrors. He sees his own reflection defying what is actually happening. He sees near dead bodies in the mirror, when in reality there are none there. He then learns that the other security guard Gary Lewis (Josh Cole) had been found dead. He supposedly killed himself by slitting his own throat with a broken piece of mirror. Ben is instantly suspicious.

He seeks out his wife for moral support, but she doesn’t believe him. She fears he is going crazy, and part of him fears this as well. Those fears subside as more and more evidence mounts that the mirrors are a gateway into an alternative and much darker reality.

Generally, I hate horror movies based on Asian films. I think the translation over is awful. The use of gray CGI effects when displaying ghosts doesn’t scare. The entire productions fail because they lack character development, a decent plot, and credible actors. The difference with “Mirrors” is that it is an “Alexandre Aja” film. If the world was a fair place, Aja would be placed in charge of all modern horror movies. He understands what horror is and he always delivers.

From the very original “High Tension,” to the American remake “The Hills Have Eyes,” to his suspense thriller “P2” and now for the Korean based film “Mirrors,” Aja confirms there is nothing he cannot do in the horror industry. His movies radiate with the audience because of the focus placed on interactions between the characters. Not only are the characters fully developed but the relationships they have with the other main players humanize them even more. Therefore, when they are placed into predicaments where they are afraid or in danger, it relays the same feelings of trepidation to the audience.

“Mirrors” was held together not only by Aja’s brilliance but by an excellent cast. Kiefer Sutherland excels in the role of someone who is desperate to save his family from this unknown danger. He not only shows Ben as a great father who had a tough run of it, but displays a sympathetic hero without the recognition deserved. When the rest of the characters believe him to be insane, the viewers know he isn’t. The internal struggle of Ben to communicate what he knows to be true to a wife, who has learned not to trust him, was done marvelously. The conversations are true to life and allow the viewers to relate and subsequently feel more for Ben.

Paula Patton also is perfectly suited as Ben’s fearful but loving wife. The chemistry between both Patton and Sutherland is rock solid throughout. Patton portrays Amy as someone who if not for her kids would be right by Ben’s side regardless of the situation. Her anxiety surrounds her children and the impact that Ben’s (what she sees as) erratic behavior has on them. It isn’t until she is forced to face that Ben is not crazy and instead in an insane situation that the devoted wife is fully shown.

Overall, the movie is fantastic. The plot is intriguing, the suspense builds throughout, the characters are strong and the conclusion is actually unexpected, which rarely happens nowadays. More than any of that, the characters react in a realistic manner. It isn’t a big stretch that an ex-cop would venture into territory that others would shy away from. Furthermore, when things do reveal themselves as supernatural, Ben is the first one to say, “Fuck this place,” and attempts to leave. This isn’t a movie where the characters choose to be in hero-like roles. Neither Ben nor Amy want any part of the situation, but when the demonic force goes after their children, they are without choice and act in a way that any parent would. Ben goes as far to take people hostage and threaten the elderly to protect his family.

Once again, Aja reminds me that mainstream horror isn’t dead, but that the great ones are few and far between. “Mirrors” definitely falls into that category and is one to be remembered.

Scared Stiff Rating: 8/10

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Mirrors review

Kiefer Sutherland uses his break from 24 to get to the bottom of some ghastly happenings in a new horror film...

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After his infamous debut film Haute Tension , French horror director Alexandre Aja has mostly been confined to redoing other people’s original works. His biggest hit to date has been his remake of Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes , but he’s also slated to do his own take on Joe Dante’s drive-in classic Piranha in 2009. Between then, he’s gotten yet another remake into theaters. This time, Aja turns his eye towards South Korea, adapting the South Korean horror film Geoul Sokeuro into the surprisingly competent horror film Mirrors .

Ben Carson (Kiefer Sutherland) is an ex-cop with a troubled past. Since accidentally shooting a fellow officer on an undercover assignment, Ben’s life has gone into the toilet. He’s separated from his wife Amy (Paula Patton), his kids, he’s been forced out of the force because of psychological problems, and he’s bunking with his much younger kid sister Angela (Amy Smart). He’s had some drinking problems, but he’s clean and sober now, and he’s getting back onto his feet with the help of a night watchman position.

The Mayflower building was once the finest department store in New York until a fire gutted the entire building and injured a whole bunch of innocent shoppers. Now it’s a hulking, burned-out ruin full of decaying mannequins, shattered glass, and strangely enough, a bunch of well-cared-for mirrors (the previous night watchman was obsessed with them, for reasons the movie reveals fairly quickly). Apparently mirrors can’t be destroyed by fire, which my inner skeptic tends to dismiss, but for the purposes of the movie, I’ll ignore that and we’ll say that the mirrors are indestructible because of evil magic.

Mirrors is a cut above the average late-summer fare thanks in no small part to Kiefer Sutherland. His steady work on the hit series 24 finds him able to both do investigative work and handle a gun, even if that means Ben Carson is like a less successful, less indestructible Jack Bauer. His background as a cop is crucial to the film’s plot, which combines supernatural horror with a detective thriller. Sutherland is definitely able to play cop well, even if it’s hard to shake his TV career from the mind. Paula Patton is fairly good in her role as the mother of Ben’s children and a professional in her own right; she’s not given a terrible amount of things to do in the movie other than to not believe Ben’s crazy story at first, then to completely come around and believe him in the end. Amy Smart doesn’t have a whole lot to do in the film, but she does get one of the better special effects sequences in the movie, so there’s nothing to complain about.

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Alexandre Aja is very restrained compared to his usual style (aside from the aforementioned special effects sequence and some flapping pigeons that sound like machine gun fire). There’s very little overt violence against women, a welcome change, and while there is some peril, the crux of the tension is centered on Ben Carson’s character and his efforts to decipher the mystery of the mirrors before it is too late. There’s suspense, not torture. I didn’t expect this from the director of Haute Tension , that’s for sure.

Much like the work of Brad Anderson’s Session 9 , the Mayflower building is used well (but not as well as it would have fared in Anderson’s expert hands). I’m not sure if this is a result of Aja maturing as a director (though with Piranha on deck, I somehow doubt it) or due to some degree of fidelity to the original Korean film. I’d believe the latter, as creepiness over brutality seems to be the modus operandi of this generation of Asian horror films (that make it to Hollywood). It was nice to see someone try to scare the viewer, not just immediately jump to gross-out splatter and Grand Guignol brutalism.

The film is a bit long for my tastes, coming in at 110 minutes. There’s some flabbiness in the middle that could have easily been cut out. The final act suffers a bit from some downright silly (but necessary for plot resolution purposes) sequences and a great deal of predictability. Some of the things I predicted, jokingly, 15 minutes before they happened only to laugh in incredulity as Jack Bauer Lite actually did the goofy thing I predicted! That’s never a good sign and it harmed the movie’s overall seriousness factor a great deal.

Mirrors , given its plot and the amount of investigating and lead-chasing involved, would’ve made a much better X-Files movie than the actual X-Files movie. Certainly, I have a bit more faith in Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz to have made the film’s conclusion a bit less predictable and a lot less silly. Still, as a whole, it was a fairly entertaining attempt at making a supernatural suspense genre film and throughout most of the experience, I was interested and engaged despite the flaws.

US correspondent Ron Hogan doesn’t have many mirrors in his home, unlike the protagonists in this film. Find more by Ron at his blog, Subtle Bluntness , and daily at Shaktronics and PopFi .

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Ron Hogan

Ron Hogan is a freelance writer from Louisville, Kentucky who got an English degree from a college no one has ever heard of. After dropping out…

GAMES, BRRRAAAINS & A HEAD-BANGING LIFE

GAMES, BRRRAAAINS & A HEAD-BANGING LIFE

Mirrors 1

Horror Movie Review: Mirrors (2008)

Mirrors is a 2008 remake/re-imagining of the classic K-horror, Into the Mirror directed by Alexandre Aja and starring Kiefer Sutherland.

He plays an alcoholic detective named Ben who is currently serving a suspension for his role in a shooting gone wrong. Estranged from this wife and kids, in an attempt to right his life and kick the drink he has taken on a temporary job as a night security guard. The location is the Mayflower department store that was pretty much destroyed by fire years before.

Mirrors 4

Before all of this though, Mirrors plays its supernatural hand really early. By actually opening with the previous night security guard dying at his mirrored version’s hands.

Mirrors 2

Back in the Mayflower with Ben, the fire absolutely gutted the building but left a lot of the mirrors intact it seems. Of course, on his first night there he begins to see strange things in the mirrors which of course he dismisses as hallucinations.

Ultimately these visions get more and more detailed to the point where it reveals pretty much everything supernatural to Ben within the first third of the movie. Seemingly desperate to get any ‘questions’ about what is real or not real out of the way, we’re then left with a mystery. As Ben sets about trying to find out just what the presence in the mirror wants.

Mirrors 3

Excuse the dismissive tone but Mirrors is a frustrating watch. On the one hand it is commendable that it doesn’t just rehash the movie it is based on. Instead taking some of its ideas and sticking them in amongst an original story. On the other hand, that original story is boring and overly familiar. Alcoholic cop discovers supernatural events connected a serious event in the past, begins to dig around and discovers not all is what it seems. We’ve seen this story done time and time before and in a shorter, more interesting way.

Mirrors 6

It’s just so boring and with a wealth of early supernatural scares, later ones have little or no impact even if the concept is sound. One in particular involving water and the reflection that comes from that is original but the slog to get to that point is not worth it.

It’s not the fault of the cast…mostly. Sutherland is a good actor; he’s been in many big movies and shows but here he fails to spark.

Mirrors 5

He has moments, often the ones not involving supernatural stuff but it’s just not enough for a memorable turn. Most of the other cast, the likes of Paula Patton and Jason Flemyng do exactly what is required of them. Nothing of note but nothing offensive either.

The best thing about Mirrors? Some of the effects. In a surprising turn, the movie has some really nasty gore scenes. One in particular involving a mouth being ripped open is genuinely shocking!

Mirrors 8

See this scene but don’t worry too much about seeing the rest of the movie.

Carl Fisher

Owner/Administrator/Editor/Writer/Interviewer/YouTuber - you name it, I do it. I love gaming, horror movies, and all forms of heavy metal and rock. I'm also a Discworld super-fan and love talking all things Terry Pratchett. Do you wanna party? It's party time!

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horror movie review mirrors

Like hitting up the carnival fun house with a belly full of mushrooms ready to turn ugly, there’s just something inherently goofy, buffoonish, and maybe even wrong about paying to see Jack Bauer scream at his own reflection for an hour and a half. Unfortunately, that kooky premise and a vaguely M.C. Escher-esque title sequence are pretty much all that separate Mirrors from every tired, outdated should have been straight to DVD horror sleeper we’ve all groaned at ad nauseum since The Ring made a bagillion dollars.

Ben Carson ( Kiefer Sutherland ) is an out of work, former police officer who takes a night watchmen job at a creepy, burned down department store to help support his estranged wife (Paula Patton) and two children. He loads himself up with prescription drugs to ward off the urge to drink and begins seeing heinous images in the some eighty thousand odd mirrors inside the abandoned building. At first he, along with everyone watching, hasn’t the slightest idea what’s transpiring, but thanks to a script page possibly stolen from PBS’ long-cancelled and forgotten Ghostwriter , it becomes apparent he needs to find a young girl released from a mental hospital decades earlier.

Surprise surprise. After a Little Red Riding Hood-like quest for the girl and a not-so-shocking reconciliation with his wife, Ben re-enters the department store for an epic final battle, more video game than motion picture and some sort of resolution is reached.

It’s not that Mirrors is a bad film--per say. It’s just pointless, lacking in originality, and prone to shooting itself in the glass. There’s a plethora of good through-the-mirror camera shots, but they get overused and weak by the end. There’s a realistic use of the language one might implement if ever confronted with haunting doppelgangers residing in an abandoned building, but the swear words often seem forced and come out a little too big budget catchphrase-y. And there’s even a look at Amy Smart’s unmentionables to keep the bored and irritated male interested, but her boobs, just like her entire role in this film, seem more to fill her obligatory gratuitous nude scene quota for 2008 than facilitate any imperative plot movement.

At a basic, unchallenging level, Mirrors works. It’s sure to haunt and frighten folks looking to have a jumpy good time, but it never strives for more than just superficial background noise. The whole film feels a little borrowed and worn--and not even from groundbreaking movies. A character dies in almost the exact same way as Billy Bedlam from Con Air . Faucets are mysteriously turned on in a possible ode to Harry and Marv from Home Alone . The film even manages to squeeze in creaky doors, unidentified hand prints, and a pale, adolescent chick--the unholy triumvirate of horror movie fallback scares.

If you were planning to see Mirrors this weekend, don’t let this review stop you. Bring a cute girl and some Bunch-a-Crunch. It’ll fulfill the shallowest of expectations and maybe even lead to some impromptu hand holding or post-movie fooling around, but don’t complain when you realize you could have gotten the same cheap thrill for two dollars at Blockbuster. After twenty-one years, Kiefer Sutherland has returned to his horror movie roots, but viewer beware, he’s brought less ingenuity, less vampires, and way less Corey Feldman .

Mack Rawden

Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays. 

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Movie Review: Mirrors (2008)

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  • --> August 28, 2008

Six years ago the Hollywood remake of The Ring was one hell of an awakening to the freakish world of J-Horror (Japanese Horror) films. The Grudge , while not as good as the aforementioned, was pretty eerie as well. A semi-steady stream of crap like One Missed Call and the more recent The Eye followed. Today I had a chance to watch the latest K-Horror (Korean Horror) crossover: Mirrors .

And for once, it was a good thing I didn’t set my expectations very high. It gave the chance for the movie to be better than I anticipated. It’s not much better, mind you, but when you set the bar so low any incremental change is good.

Like most films of this genre, Mirrors involves some pissed off supernatural beings who feel slighted by something someone did to them. Instead of a phone or a television being their avenue to our world, this time around the gateway is one of those reflective surfaces that you look into while styling your hair (yes, it is a mirror). A rundown department building, built upon the ruins of a psychiatric hospital, has a lot of these contraptions in it and is the epicenter of activity. Unfortunately, down on his luck detective Ben Carson (Kiefer Sutherland) has taken a side job of securing the place. It doesn’t take too long for the beings trapped inside to begin manipulating him to do their bidding by threatening his family — namely his estranged wife Amy (Paula Patton) and his sister Angela (Amy Smart).

What the movie has going for it is the intense effort put forth by Kiefer Sutherland. I’m guessing every actor must relish the opportunity to portray a character with anger and alcohol issues and Sutherland appears to be no different. Shedding his 24 persona, he tackles the troubled role with unbridled enthusiasm — sometimes too much of it. For whatever reason, Ben would simply snap and begin shouting at people as he tried to unravel the mystery. I’m okay with the short-fuse idea, but these outbursts were thoroughly over-the-top and would have landed him with a broken jaw had he acted that way anywhere near me. Other than that minor nuisance, I think Kiefer captured the anxiety any man would feel if his family was threatened by something he had no control over. Paula Patton, while looking simply delectable, does an admirable job too, as a mother fearing for the safety of her children. She also does a relatively good job of reigning Sutherland in.

But mostly Mirrors is a rehash of all the other Asian horror flicks that have come before it. Scares are tossed every which way via an array of methodical build-ups (you know its coming, you just don’t know exactly when). Shocks are provided with the gruesome looks of the apparitions and the horrific ways dreamed up to maim or kill. Nothing new to see here except for the creepy idea that mirrors (or other reflective surfaces) harbor other planes of existence — some that may be very hostile to our being.

Mirrors is good for some rudimentary scares but not much else. All I know is, for the foreseeable future, I’ll be double-checking my reflection for any anomalies as I brush my teeth in the morning. You never know . . .

The Critical Movie Critics

I'm an old, miserable fart set in his ways. Some of the things that bring a smile to my face are (in no particular order): Teenage back acne, the rain on my face, long walks on the beach and redneck women named Francis. Oh yeah, I like to watch and criticize movies.

Movie Review: Ghosted (2023) Movie Review: Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020) Movie Review: Fantasy Island (2020) Movie Review: Snatched (2017) Movie Review: Horrible Bosses 2 (2014) Movie Review: ABCs of Death 2 (2014) Movie Review: Life After Beth (2014)

'Movie Review: Mirrors (2008)' has 1 comment

The Critical Movie Critics

September 29, 2008 @ 11:38 pm E. Peevie

The dialogue felt so forced and artificial to me I kept rolling my eyes and elbowing my friend sitting next to me. And I really wanted to like it because I like the genre and love me some Kief.

It’s a shame it was so bad, because like you, I think the creepy mirror angle had a lot of potential. I wonder if the original was any better.

Here’s my review: greenroomthoughts.blogspot.com/2008/08/mirror-isempty.html

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Film review: mirrors 2 (2010).

Adrian Halen 09/01/2012 Film Reviews

horror movie review mirrors

SYNOPSIS:  

When Max, who is recovering from a traumatic accident, takes a job as a nighttime security guard, he begins to see visions of a young mysterious woman in the store’s mirror.  

In recent reviews of the new thriller Mirrors 2, it seems the conceptual views of haunted mirrors and self mutilation were split down the middle. The idea that a soul or souls could haunt and influence from beyond the grave using only ones reflection was in fact in my mind a different take that hadn’t been explored fully in recent offerings. Sure, we have seen plenty of films with that 1 or 2 scenes where a ghostly invader attack from behind or makers that easily effective jump scene though out film history but to bring it full circle was definitely something that appealed to me. 

In Mirrors 2, Keifer Sutherland is long gone but we still have some fine acting performances per Nick Stahl who plays Max Matheson and a long time favorite of mine with William Katt playing his father Jack. Although Katt has stayed busy in other genres, it’s great to see him taking the horror film plunge and stepping into something new. Katt, you might remember form the original “House”, Carrie: and his epic ” Greatest American Hero” series.   Getting back to the film, Max is recovering from a car accident trauma that left his fiance dead. His life has been in shambles since then with a bout of drugs and alcohol. Though he is on the upswing trying to get his life back together and attending local psychiatric sessions. His father, an owner of the high profile “Mayflower” business is prepping to re-open a new branch local to them. The previous one from he first film has been shut down and beyond that I’m not exactly sure what else what was involved at the moment. Though we did leave that branch with it being a portal cesspool to evil energy.  

Jack needs a security guard right away to fill a lost position, and calls upon his son Max to help him out by taking the job. The former guard had a breakdown one night and almost killed himself by chawing on a mouthful of glass. After a bit of reluctance, Max agrees. Though what they all don’t realize is that the new store has also had one of the original mirrors shipped over as a iconic piece to occupy the new location. This of course begins the haunting all over again. Almost immediately a rash of suicidal looking deaths begin to occur…… some more accidental based than others that all end in violent circumstances. 

In fact the death scenes are pretty effectively done and definitely some of the high points of this film. What is more disturbing though is the haunting mirror interactions which even though we know as an audience as simple editing camera tricks are still chilling and eerie to watch. Something about that connections we have with mirrors and the idea of reflections not always matching up is a central inherit fear we all share. That idea is what works effectively in these films that also incorporates the effect of the reflections inflicting harm upon into the real world. Max begins to get it right off the bat thinking that he might be just having psychological jolts from his past trauma. When folks start showing up dead, its obvious that the mirrors themselves are out of control. As the story digs deeper, it was more apparent that the haunting is actually rooted in one newer source than old phantoms. This creates a mystery thriller direction which on one hand completes the story nicely, but on the other hand is probably not horrific enough for my tastes. Mirrors 2 has a great first and 2nd act leaving the 33rd to be more resolved than for scream tactics. Still its a good film, to watch and fans of the first should dig alot of the same approaches. It still found several scenes a bit chilling especially when confronted by Doppelganger like reflections. 

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Film Review : Mirrors

“Mirrors: A Chilling Reflection of Horror and Supernatural Intrigue”

“Mirrors” stands as a spine-chilling horror film that intricately weaves elements of the supernatural and psychological terror. In this comprehensive exploration, we delve into the key facets that define this unique film, unraveling the mysteries behind the ominous mirrors and the sinister forces that lie within.

Film Overview:

“Mirrors” unfolds as a psychological horror film directed by Alexandre Aja, centering around a security guard tasked with protecting a burned-down department store. As the protagonist delves into the disturbing mysteries behind a series of malevolent occurrences linked to mirrors, the film explores the thin line between reality and the supernatural.

Keywords Defining the Film:

Supernatural Intrigue: At the core of “Mirrors” is an aura of supernatural intrigue. The film ventures into the realm of the paranormal, blending psychological horror with elements that transcend the boundaries of the natural world.

Psychological Terror: The keyword “Psychological Terror” encapsulates the film’s ability to induce fear and unease through the manipulation of the mind. As the protagonist confronts the horrors within the mirrors, the audience is taken on a psychological rollercoaster of suspense and dread.

Ominous Mirrors: The film’s plot revolves around mirrors as conduits for malevolent forces. This keyword highlights the significance of the mirrors as vessels for supernatural entities, turning everyday objects into sources of horror.

Reality Distortion: “Mirrors” delves into the theme of reality distortion, blurring the lines between what is real and what exists in the paranormal realm. This keyword emphasizes the film’s ability to keep viewers on the edge of their seats by challenging their perceptions.

Mirror Mythology: The film incorporates elements of mirror mythology, drawing on cultural and supernatural beliefs surrounding mirrors. This keyword unveils the layers of lore that contribute to the film’s atmospheric tension.

Protagonist’s Descent into Darkness:

Central to the narrative is the protagonist’s descent into darkness as he unravels the mysteries behind the mirrors. His journey becomes a focal point for exploring the malevolent forces at play and the toll such supernatural encounters take on the human psyche.

Visual Horror:

“Mirrors” achieves visual horror through its atmospheric cinematography and the depiction of terrifying reflections within the mirrors. The film’s visual elements heighten the suspense, creating an unsettling ambiance that lingers long after the credits roll.

Legacy in Horror Cinema:

As a horror film, “Mirrors” has carved a niche for itself in the genre. Its legacy lies in its ability to blend psychological horror with supernatural elements, offering audiences an immersive and chilling experience that resonates within the annals of horror cinema.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, “Mirrors” stands as a chilling exploration of horror and supernatural intrigue. Through its keywords of Supernatural Intrigue, Psychological Terror, Ominous Mirrors, Reality Distortion, and Mirror Mythology, the film captivates audiences with its atmospheric tension and spine-tingling narrative. As viewers peer into the ominous mirrors alongside the protagonist, they are taken on a journey that transcends the boundaries of reality, leaving an indelible mark within the realm of horror cinema.

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Behind You – Movie Review (2/5)

Posted by Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard | Apr 14, 2020 | Read Time 3 min.

Behind You – Movie Review (2/5)

BEHIND YOU is a horror movie by Andrew Mecham and Matthew Whedon. The plot features a demon in a mirror that can be summoned by saying something out loud several times. Yes, it sounds familiar because it is. Read our full Behind You review here!

Behind You is a horror movie by writer-director duo Andrew Mecham and Matthew Whedon. And yes, the latter is the brother of Joss Whedon.

When this movie begins, it feels like a classic horror movie that could deliver on some decent entertainment. Unfortunately, it falls apart in too many ways towards the end. This movie has potential, but the final result just doesn’t work for me in most ways. Then again, if you love the “demon in a mirror”-plot, then you should still check it out.

Continue reading our  Behind You review below.

Jan Broberg from  Abducted in Plain Sight docu-series stars

Yes, the real-life victim from the  truly crazy Abducted in Plain Sight  documentary series on Netflix is the star of  Behind You . Her name is Jan Broberg and she is really good. Honestly, whether you watch this movie or not, you simply have to check out the documentary. It’s at least as crazy as  Tiger King which is saying something!

You’ll want to check this out:  Our review of the docu-series  Abducted in Plain Sight  on Netflix >

Then again, this isn’t her first rodeo. She’s been acting for quite some time and Jan Broberg is definitely one of the best things about this horror movie. Jan Broberg was also in the horror movie remake  Maniac from 2012 which starred Elijah Wood and   Haunt  (2014) . She could easily have a big career as a horror icon… but not particularly thanks to Behind You .

Also in  Behind You  is the young Addy Miller who you might recognize from  Dark Places (2015). She’s also been rather unrecognizable as a “walker” on The Walking Dead in both 2010 and 2017. She’s also in the upcoming horror-comedy  The Devil’s Tree  which is currently in post-production.

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Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard

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Screen Rant

History of evil review: paul wesley leads a dystopian horror that makes for a forgettable experience.

History of Evil's political setting shows some promise, but the horror feature never manages to make good on it beyond sporadic thrills.

  • History of Evil blends dystopian political elements with traditional horror, creating an intriguing premise but fails to fully explore both genres.
  • Ron, played by Paul Wesley, shines as a protective family man, but the rest of the cast, particularly Jackie Cruz's Alegre, feels underdeveloped and underused.
  • Good ideas and tension-filled moments are present in the film, but History of Evil ultimately falls short of delivering as a truly scary or thought-provoking horror movie.

Director Bo Mirhosseni's debut feature, History of Evil , presents some good ideas, though it does not end up following through on its promise. The horror movie opens up with a text explanation that lays the setting for its dystopian world. History of Evil takes place in the year 2045, with the United States of America having become the North American Federation, a fascist, totalitarian state following a series of wars. The reality is devastating, with sanctioned militia groups free to roam the country in search of those who oppose the totalitarian regime.

History of Evil 2024 Movie Poster

History of Evil is a horror-thriller film written and directed by Bo Mirhosseni and released in 2024. Set in a dystopian United States future now controlled by religious leaders, a resistance member named Alegre Dyer breaks out of prison and escapes to a remote safe house in the forest with her husband and daughter. Unfortunately for Alegre, her husband has begun wrestling with his dark past, jeopardizing the safety of them all.

  • Paul Wesley's performance elevates the film
  • History of Evil has good ideas that it doesn't deliver on
  • It's more unsettling than it is horror-esque scary
  • The film's supporting characters are underused

The film follows Ron (Paul Wesley), his daughter Daria (Murphee Bloom), and wife Alegre (Jackie Cruz), a member of The Resistance — the group who fights against the North American Federation's rule — who was imprisoned for writing the rebels' manifesto. The setup for the story consists of Alegre escaping from prison after years, with the character getting reunited with her husband and daughter. The trio, alongside guardian Trudy (Rhonda Johnson Dents), finds refuge in a farmhouse deemed safe because people are scared of it. There, they have to spend a few days until The Resistance can safely extract them.

The film’s political scenario is intriguing, as it feels both way too far out there and extremely real — especially in light of recent events that have unfolded in the United States — at the same time.

History Of Evil's Dystopian & Horror Genres Battle Each Other

Paul Wesley and Jackie Cruz in History of Evil

History of Evil is ambitious with its premise. The movie starts with an interesting journey by setting up what America has become and what role Jackie’s character plays in The Resistance to topple the authoritarian regime in charge. The film’s political scenario is intriguing, as it feels both way too far out there and extremely real —especially in light of recent events that have unfolded in the United States — at the same time. That concept is not common for a horror movie, and serves to sprinkle a couple of shocking moments throughout the film.

At the start of the film, Wesley’s Ron and his family are stopped at a checkpoint, with officers searching for Cruz's Alegre. Despite being a moment focused on the movie’s political elements rather than the more traditional horror that would soon follow, the scene is easily one of the movie’s best. The tension is palpable as Wesley’s charismatic Ron tries to hide his fear from an officer while the fake identities of his wife and daughter are checked. Every second feels like an eternity before the family is finally allowed to continue down the road.

The movie’s dystopian setting then takes a backseat for some time, giving way to more traditional horror as History of Evil sees its characters reach a safe house, having to stay there for days before rescue arrives. While there are a few jumpscares during the family's stay in the farmhouse, the film is more geared towards evoking a feeling of uneasiness than truly frightening us. The two genres are never fully explored, and the mixing of both results in History of Evil never being as scary or thought-provoking as it could have been.

Paul Wesley's Ron Delivers As A Compelling Lead Character

The rest of history of evil's cast is underused.

Wesley has made a name for himself as Stefan Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries and as the iconic Captain Kirk in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . The actor brings his usual charm to History of Evil , making Ron a well-rounded character who wants to protect his family. It is interesting to see how Ron is able to escape nerve-wracking situations thanks to his charismatic nature, with Wesley making the character a compelling lead to follow, even though he is not the true hero in his family. That role is reserved for Ron's revolutionary wife, Alegre.

While there are a few jumpscares during the family's stay in the farmhouse, the film is more geared towards evoking a feeling of uneasiness than truly frightening us.

Cruz has a few moments to shine throughout the movie; however, Alegre is never given the same care as Ron. The character, and almost every other in the film, gets very little to do. History of Evil 's failure to balance its cast ends up restricting the film from going in more exciting and personal directions than it does. Alegre's relationship with her six-year-old daughter, who basically has no memory of her due to the activist's years away in prison, results in a couple of emotional scenes — and the movie's major jumpscare — but is not given enough focus.

The horror film could have worked better on the relationship between Ron and Alegre before leading up to the film's surprising finale, which spotlights the dark spirits in the house. Speaking of the evil lurking in the shadows, one of the movie's best aspects is the series of conversations Ron has with a deceased older resident of the home, which serve to slowly peel back the curtain on the farmhouse's past and the danger the family is in, although the movie fails to build on that to make History of Evil 's ending as poignant as perhaps intended.

History of Evil is now available to stream on Shudder.

History of Evil

NEWS... BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT

Fans compare ‘awesomely bloody’ new horror film to Black Mirror as it lands perfect Rotten Tomatoes score

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A new horror movie has got film fans on the edges of their seats, and has been given a perfect score by many.

Irish flick Double Blind was recently released to rave reviews, boasting an incredible 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes .

The teaser for the creepy scare-fest – which has been met with comparisons to Black Mirror – sees a group of people embarking on a five-day clinical drug trial at an underground medical facility, in exchange for cash.

However, things take a turn when they’re given tablets and instructed to stay awake as long as possible.

As the experiment descends into chaos, with participants battling to save their lives – and apparently becoming possessed – a doctor can be heard voicing her fears for all involved, explaining: ‘Their whole immune systems have gone haywire.’

The clip ends with a bloodchilling warning, adding: ‘Everyone stay awake, whatever you do. Don’t go to sleep, don’t even close your eyes. If you fall asleep, you’ll die.’

Double Blind

Fans couldn’t get enough of the ‘exciting’ horror offering, and quickly commended it on Rotten Tomatoes, where it currently has a perfect score.

‘This is a really good, claustrophobic cabin fever type sci-fi horror flick. An awesomely bloody journey and ending as well,’ Stoner J wrote.

Luke C praised: ‘A tightly scripted psychological thriller that builds the tension and keeps you on the edge of your seat. Beautifully shot with great pacing and strong performances throughout.

Double Blind

‘Double Blind shows the wealth and depth of emerging Irish film talent. Highly recommended.’

Robert P added: ‘#DoubleBlind is the screaming child of #BlackMirror and Irish horror! Scary, creepy and claustrophobic!’

2024 is set to be the year of horror films , with some epic sequels, prequels, reboots and revivals set to hit the big screen.

Top 10 film releases still to come in 2024

Imaginary – March 8

Back to Black - April 12

Challengers – April 26

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – May 24

Inside Out 2 – June 14

Bad Boys 4 – June 14

A Quiet Place: Day One – June 24

Deadpool 3 – July 26

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – September 6

Joker: Folie à Deux – October 3

We were recently blessed with the first look at A Quiet Place: Day One – the latest from the Quiet Place franchise – ahead of the release in June, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice premiering in September, while They Follow is slated to begin filming this year.

Double Blind had a small cinema release in the US, and is currently available rent on Amazon Prime – it premiered in the UK earlier this month.

The Last Kingdom star Millie Brady leads the cast alongside Akshay Kumar, Pollyanna McIntosh and Abby Fitz, with Ian Hunt-Duffy serving as director.

Double Blind

The official synopsis reads: ‘After an experimental drug trial goes awry, the test subjects face a terrifying side effect: if you fall asleep you die.

‘Trapped in an isolated facility, panic ensues as they try to escape and somehow stay awake.’

Double Blind is available to stream now.

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Safia Oakley-Green in Out of Darkness.

Out of Darkness review – stone age survival thriller finds horror in the Highlands

Six settlers arrive in a Scottish forest 45,000 years ago, where ‘bloodthirsty things’ await but bathos fails to arrive

‘F orty-five thousand years ago …” So begins this ambitious, confident feature debut from Scottish director Andrew Cumming. It’s a horror movie set in the stone age where a poor old early human is yomping about the Highlands in winter; no Gore-Tex or warm pub, just a tough bit of elk meat to chew on and the odd run-in with a hairy Neanderthal. What a god-awfully grim time to be alive – even before things go bump in the night.

The premise is simple: this movie is “Alien in the stone age”. It begins with six intrepid early humans washing up on a Highlands beach, all of them quickly and efficiently sketched out as characters. Adem (Chuku Modu) is in charge and evidently sees himself as a mighty leader of men. He’s travelling with family: his pregnant partner (Iola Evans), son, and younger brother. Beyah (Safia Oakley-Green), a teenage “stray”, is with them; she’s no relation to anyone, which makes her vulnerable (“strays eat last”). Finally, there’s a wily old adviser who starkly warns that “cold, starvation and bloodthirsty things” await them in this new land.

All of which comes to pass. As they sit around the campfire, terrifying noises emerge from the forest; something out there in the dark wants them dead. And for a while Cumming’s film really touches a nerve; for the first half it’s super tense, before the pace dips in the second and it goes off the boil.

That said, miraculously this film is never silly. The recreation of stone age life feels unexpectedly convincing – partly I suspect, because of the sensible decision to have the actors speak a made-up stone age language instead of English (bolted together, apparently, from bits of Arabic, Basque and Sanskrit). It left me in awe of the survival instinct: how on earth did humans make it through those cold, bloody old times? I’d hurl myself into the nearest loch.

  • Horror films
  • Period and historical films

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5 best Netflix horror movies to watch right now

Our picks for the best horror movies on Netflix streaming this month

Bill Skarsgard in It movie (2017)

Netflix is a hub of horror, no matter what sub-genre you’re looking for. Not only does the site have an impressive lineup of blockbuster horror staples, but there are quite a few Netflix originals in the mix. Of course, spooky season tends to have the most abundant horror selection, but the streaming service offers thrills and chills all year round.

Between truly terrifying movies like “It” and quirky film series like “Fear Street,” Netflix has the tried and true slasher and supernatural tropes along with satirical installments that lovingly poke fun at the genre. So, here are some of the best Netflix horror movies to stream at your next Netflix and chill(s) marathon — including the classics and some titles that you might not have seen.  

'Insidious'

Some parents share eye colors with their kids and others share astral projection capabilities that pull you into a demonic dimension. The 2010 movie “Insidious” follows the Lambert family as they discover that their comatose son isn’t medically sick, but trapped in a dimension called the Further, while an evil spirit takes the opportunity to ride shotgun in his body. 

“The Conjuring” staple Patrick Wilson plays Josh Lambert (the dad), while Rose Byrne takes on the role of Renai Lambert (the mom). Meanwhile, Ty Simpkins plays the afflicted child Dalton, and Lyn Shaye takes on the role of the psychic who knows way too much about their family. The franchise has five installments but only the first and last movies are on Netflix. 

Watch on Netflix

'The Babadook'

In the past decade since its release, “The Babadook” has garnered a cult-like following. The terrifying shadowy monster has even become somewhat of an LGBTQ+ icon. When parents read “Where the Wild Things Are” to their kids, the monsters don’t usually appear in their closet. Unfortunately, the grieving single mom and her son don’t have the same luck in the film. 

“The Babadook” is just as much of a psychological horror film as a terrifying supernatural thrill: Think Beelejuice manifestation except a thousand times more sinister. However, if you’re freaked out after watching the movie, Babadook feels a lot less menacing when you take in the multitude of memes floating around. Essie Davis stars as Amelia Vanek, while Noah Wiseman plays her son in this Jennifer Kent-written and directed movie. 

Clowns plague people’s nightmares for a reason — it’s unsettling when people (or malevolent beings) are hidden by a mask. Stephen King’s “It” follows the lives of a group of kids in a small town called Derry as they fight off a primordial being disguised as a clown named Pennywise. 

Obviously, the killer clown eats children for breakfast. He also only comes around every 27 years. “Part I” chronicles the kids’ fight as children and the sequel “Part II” follows them into adulthood when they realize their slingshots weren’t as effective as they thought. 

Bill Skarsgård stars as Pennywise, while the film’s slate of child actors have gone on to lead very impressive careers. The cast includes names like Jaeden Martell (Bill Denbrough), Finn Wolfhard (Richie Tozier), Sophia Lillis (Beverly Marsh), and Chosen Jacobs (Mike Hanlon). While “Part I” is streaming on Netflix, “Part II” is only available to rent or buy.

'Fear Street'

What could possibly go wrong while living in a town called Shadyside? The Netflix trilogy “Fear Street” is based on the R.L. Stein series by the name, spanning three centuries of grisly murders. Each film centers on a different year and a rotating ensemble cast, alternating between 1994, 1978, and 1666 (no, the numbers in that particular year aren’t a coincidence). 

The series toggles between satirical slasher and intense supernatural motifs, offering horror fans the best of both worlds. And really, you just can’t go wrong with an epic mall slasher sequence. The trilogy stars actors like Sadie Sink (Ziggy Berman), Matthew Zuk (Mayor Will Goode), Gillian Jacobs (Adult Ziggy), Maya Hawke (Heather), and Kiana Madeira (Deena). All three Netflix original movies are available to stream on the site.

'The Babysitter'

OK, so “The Babysitter” might not be top-tier horror, but satirical horror is just as vital to the genre as the more serious (and scary) ones. Sometimes, you just need a dumb horror comedy to provide some laughs and jump-scares, and “The Babysitter” is just that. The 2017 movie stars Samara Weaving as the self-titled babysitter and Judah Lewis as a kid named Cole. As one can expect, the babysitter is hiding a secret — but it’s not smuggling a cute boy into the house. Nah, she just belongs to a satanic cult that isn’t afraid to get slasher-y.

The movie also stars Robbie Amell (Max), Hana Mae Lee (Sonya), Bella Thorne (Allison), and Ken Marino (Dad). McG sat in the director’s chair while Brian Duffield wrote the script. And yes, there’s a sequel, which is also streaming on Netflix.

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Xandra Harbet

Xandra is an entertainment journalist with clips in outlets like Salon, Insider, The Daily Dot, and Regal. In her 6+ years of writing, she's covered red carpets, premieres, and events like New York Comic Con. Xandra has conducted around 200 interviews with celebrities like Henry Cavill, Sylvester Stallone, and Adam Driver. She received her B.A. in English/Creative Writing from Randolph College, where she chilled with the campus ghosts and read Edgar Allan Poe at 3 am. 

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'Stopmotion' Review: This Hand-Crafted Horror Film Is One of a Kind

We love a movie about weird little stop-motion puppet guys coming to life, don't we folks?

The Big Picture

  • Stopmotion is a unique horror film that blends stop-motion animation with a dark narrative.
  • Aisling Franciosi's performance as Ella adds depth and humanity to the chilling story.
  • The film explores the blurred lines between reality and artistry, culminating in a violent yet mesmerizing finale.

Though horror is often a place to discover movies that you’ve never seen before , it is hard to think of one that is quite like Robert Morgan 's intriguing feature debut Stopmotion . Namely, this is because it draws upon the beauty of stop-motion animation to create something frequently terrifying . While there have certainly been prior works that make use of this technique to explore horror elements, whether it is the magnificent descent into darkness Mad God or the underrated more family-friendly flick Wendell & Wild , this one feels truly original in its presentation. Even as its narrative can be a bit derivative and familiar, the hand-crafted artistry on display is undeniable. Merge it with a spectacular performance from the great Aisling Franciosi , and you've got a darkly delightful yet still sinister work of horror.

What Is 'Stopmotion' About?

This all begins with the talented stop-motion filmmaker Ella Blake (Franciosi) who is working on a project for her ailing mother Suzanne ( Stella Gonet ) as she can’t do so herself. The stress of having the menacing matriarch looking over her shoulder, directing and critiquing her every move, is exhausting for both of them. Considering how intensive and tedious stop-motion already is, the way Suzanne puts pressure on her daughter makes it almost unbearable. Whether this comes out of fear that she will never be able to make something herself or something darker is something Stopmotion frequently alludes to without fully diving headfirst into it . When Suzanne has a medical episode in the middle of one of their days of shooting and falls into a coma, Ella now has a chance to make a stop-motion film of her own. She then moves into an apartment to focus all of her time on her work. However, the building seems almost abandoned. That is, save for one little girl ( Caoilinn Springall ) who begins helping Ella with the story that she is struggling with. As she begins to use…let’s just say other materials for the project that she finds to be rather useful, the film and her own life start to blur together. With each segment of the grim stop-motion creation she makes, it feels like the Ella who started it may be at risk of being locked away in the story she’s creating.

Initially, there is something liberatory to the experience as she no longer has to contend with her mother being there controlling her every move. The blunt reading of this is that it was Ella who was more of a puppet than anything. What makes this work is that, rather crucially, Morgan and his co-writer Robin King don’t go for easy metaphors about trauma. For what is essentially the entirety of the film, Ella seems to be dealing with some sort of greater pain that she is never quite able to articulate. It is as if she is trying to speak through the film that she is working on, but doesn’t quite know how to. She struggles with the story, though seems to work best when doing so subconsciously, as the darker ideas and imagery come pouring out. Stopmotion is best when we are watching these stop-motion bits as they are both well-constructed and generally creepy . The excellent use of sound, more than some on-the-nose dialogue that is scattered throughout, speaks volumes about what this film is becoming.

When they bleed into the real world, with one striking sequence seeing Ella briefly become one of her creations while running from a figure that is chasing her down, Stopmotion delicately taps into something disquieting. It feels most in conversation with something like 2021’s Censor in terms of how it observes someone starting to lose their grasp on the line between the artifice of cinema and what is going on in the making of it . Though it isn’t always as confident in how it does this, too frequently cutting away rather abruptly rather than lingering in the fear, moments like a scene where Ella is frozen with fear on a bed cuts right to the bone.

Aisling Franciosi Is Spectacular In 'Stopmotion'

Aisling Franciosi as Ella holding a piece of a puppet while looking at her stop-motion film in a still from the IFC/Shudder horror Stopmotion.

Just as importantly, the central performance from Franciosi is what helps give the story a more cutting edge. Seeing her go from being the reserved daughter trying to quietly do right by her mother to someone creating for herself, no matter the cost to herself or others, is just as frequently brilliant to behold as the stop-motion creations. This should come as no surprise to all who’ve seen Franciosi in Jennifer Kent ’s staggering The Nightingale , but it also is nice to see her being given more to work with after being wasted in last year’s The Voyage of the Last Demeter . Just as the conclusion of the film worms its way into your mind in an often terrifying fashion, it is her performance that maintains its hold over your heart. For all the ways Ella is getting lost in her creations, Franciosi never does. She gives the character a real humanity just as we feel her grasp on it slipping away the longer she spends throwing herself into her art.

The film doesn’t skimp on the blood and violence in the finale, with Morgan pushing it as far as he can, but Franciosi remains just as much a force to reckon with. Even a simple scene in a hospital where her face takes on a more sinister expression as she delivers a cathartically cruel line with relish is mesmerizing. Immediately following this, when Ella says she is the one who needs to end this, we feel just how true this is in Franciosi's voice. That the final shot lingering on her face is where it leaves its greatest impact proves quite poetically fitting. In the end, Ella may be at risk of being swallowed up by her art, yet it is Franciosi who gives it shape and form to provide it with one final blow before it all comes to a painful close .

Stopmotion Film Poster

Stopmotion (2024)

Stopmotion is a one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted horror film with a great performance from Aisling Franciosi.

  • The stop-motion sequences are all beautifully well-made even as they lean into increasing depths of brutality.
  • Aisling Franciosi is as great as ever, holding the heart of the film in her hands with ease.
  • The ending ties this all together, lingering when it counts on the film's most quietly haunting shot.
  • Elements of the story are a little familiar and blunt in the beginning.
  • It frequently lacks confidence, cutting away in moments where the fear could be let linger for a bit longer.

Stopmotion is in theaters in the U.S. starting February 23. Click below for showtimes.

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‘Cuckoo’ Review: Chaos Reigns In Neon’s Cheerfully Yucky Popcorn Horror – Berlin Film Festival

By Stephanie Bunbury

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Hunter Schafer in 'Cuckoo'

Everyone knows that hotels — preferably isolated, ideally with very few guests — make the best settings for horror films. All that sad anonymity, all that provisional space ready to be filled with something really nasty. In  Cuckoo , Alpenplatz, run by the excessively friendly Mr. Konig ( Dan Stevens ) totally fits the bill.

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So a hotel is a good start. Throw in a sinister hospital up the road reminiscent of one of David Cronenberg’s mysterious “institutes,” where nasty experiments are inevitably taking place; add some more pick ’n’ mix genre elements, including a pair of jealous sisters, a policeman operating under some kind of remote brain control, a couple of jealous step-sisters and a woman in a blond wig who keeps emerging from the night to attack Gretchen ( Hunter Schafer ), the heroine and destined Final Girl. 

Where are Gretchen’s parents when it matters? Once again, director-writer Tilman Singer has chosen from a reliably dog-eared horror-movie menu. Gretchen’s American mom has just died. Dad (Marton Csókás), long since remarried to a younger woman called Beth (Jessica Henwick). They have a peculiar little daughter, Alma (Mila Lieu), who, since they got to the forest hotel, is having increasingly vicious fits. Inevitably, they just don’t get what’s happening here.

What’s in this breeding program for Konig and his slick chum at the hospital, Dr. Bonomo (Proschat Madani)? I guess mad scientists gonna do mad science: That’s reason enough. Why everyone keeps vomiting, what the protoplasmic stuff emitted by the bird-people is — these things are not explained. Perhaps they’re just there for their yuckiness. Are Gretchen’s father and stepmother in on the plot, whatever the plot is, or just Konig’s dumb dupes? Sorry, no idea.

Not that this really matters. There is a cheerfully willing audience for this kind of film, some of whom were at the Berlin Film Festival ’s press screening, whooping and laughing as the crazy cuckoos squawked for their nestlings and the last few functioning humans ran around the hospital — which had even fewer guests than the hotel — shooting, stabbing and pulling bookshelves down on each other. The choreography here is such a mess that we still have no grasp of the dramatic space, usually vital in a fight scene, but it is still surprisingly entertaining. There is always a fresh lump of protoplasm or unexpected spurt of blood coming from somewhere.

As chief villain, Stevens has an appealingly quirky, ironic twist to his evil smile that encourages us to think this is all a bit of a lark, really. He finds a fine contrasting foil in Schafer, who plays her sulky teen-turned-avenging angel absolutely straight. It works because, however absurd her situation, we see from her face that it’s desperate. The legions of fans she amassed as a star of  Euphoria  will thrill to see her fighting off the crazy blond bird-lady, Konig and his henchmen — with a cast hobbling one hand and a flick-knife in the other, covered in minor wounds herself — as the body count rises.

None of this is quite coherent. It might just be nonsense. Well, it is. But it’s slated for release soon — this is by no means arthouse horror —– and will no doubt sell a lot of popcorn.

Title:  Cuckoo Festival:  Berlin (Berlinale Special Gala) Distributor:   Neon Director-screenwriter:  Tilman Singer Cast:  Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens, Jessica Henwick, Marton Csókás, Mila Lieu, Proschat Madani Running time:  1 hr 42 min

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    Mirrors: Directed by Alexandre Aja. With Kiefer Sutherland, Paula Patton, Cameron Boyce, Arika Gluck. An ex-cop and his family are the target of an evil force that is using mirrors as a gateway into their home.

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    Mirrors is a 2008 supernatural horror film directed by Alexandre Aja, starring Kiefer Sutherland, Paula Patton, and Amy Smart.The film was first titled Into the Mirror, but the name was later changed to Mirrors. Filming began on May 1, 2007, and it was released in American theaters on August 15, 2008. The film was originally scripted as a straightforward remake of the 2003 South Korean horror ...

  3. What are your thoughts on Mirrors (2008)? : r/horror

    It has same issue as almost all american remakes of asian horrors. It pushes for actions and effects over atmosphere and build up, it often loses whole point of the movie and its rarely made with quality in mind. It doesnt mean its terrible, but 35/100 from metacritic is pretty accurate. Id put it as 4/10 movie.

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    Overall, the movie is fantastic. The plot is intriguing, the suspense builds throughout, the characters are strong and the conclusion is actually unexpected, which rarely happens nowadays. More than any of that, the characters react in a realistic manner. It isn't a big stretch that an ex-cop would venture into territory that others would shy ...

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    Horror Movie Review: Mirrors (2008) 24/06/2019 Carl Fisher 2 min read. Mirrors is a 2008 remake/re-imagining of the classic K-horror, Into the Mirror directed by Alexandre Aja and starring Kiefer Sutherland. He plays an alcoholic detective named Ben who is currently serving a suspension for his role in a shooting gone wrong.

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  29. 'Cuckoo' Review: Chaos Reigns In Neon's Cheerfully Yucky Popcorn Horror

    In Cuckoo, Alpenplatz, run by the excessively friendly Mr. Konig ( Dan Stevens) totally fits the bill. You never get a clear idea of its geography, apart from an enormous foyer fronted by a sort ...