MIRRORS

MIRRORS: There isn’t a lot of hope for horror out there right now, what with the SAW franchise still running at full steam and most of the classic directors like John Carpenter and George Romero long past their prime. But Frenchman Alexandre Aja made a case for himself with High Tension and the better-than-it-should-have-been Hills Have Eyes remake. He returns with an original story about an ex-cop turned security guard (Keifer Sutherland) who falls victim to some haunted mirrors in the decrepit department store he’s been assigned to patrol. What lurks on the other side of the polished glass now threatens his friends and family unless he can find a way to break the curse. Aja’s film has fun with the endless possibilities of being killed by your own reflection - actress Amy Smart’s bathtub demise is particularly gruesome – and his camerawork shows his previous successes were no fluke. But he should have held a mirror up to the script, which was co-written with usual partner Levasseur. All the spooky set-up is in vain when the secret behind the looking glass turns out to be leftover script notes from The Exorcist and House on Haunted Hill. As a horror film, Mirrors can be relied upon to make you jump once or twice and (in its unrated form) turn your stomach. But that miraculous reinvention of the genre? We’re still waiting. Fox’s 2-disc Blu-ray includes a BonusView picture-in-picture commentary / storyboard comparison, an in-depth Making Of (who knew this was a remake?...not me, obviously), a hefty chunk of deleted scenes and digital copy for portable media players.