Mirrors 2 (2010) by Dj Vivace

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Directed by:
Written by: ,
Starring: , ,

Now, I won’t admit to being the biggest fan of Into the Mirror, in fact, it’s safe to say it was one of my least favourite of the J-Horror movement. So, when they decided to remake it with Jack Bauer in the lead role, I was less than amused. Considering the fact the remake had one of my favourite stars in it, and was directed by Alexandre Aja, the man responsible for two of the greatest horrors of the noughties, Switchblade Romance and the Hills Have Eyes remake, I was massively disappointed by it. I actually hated it, it was awful. This sequel could seriously not have been any worse than the remake? Or could it?

Mirrors 2 is actually better than its predecessor in many ways. Firstly, it has a trusted and simple story about a guy haunted by a spirit killing people who look at their reflection in the mirror, and is also has some wonderful deaths. Max Matheson has taken the job of a night security guard at a large corporation, the previous guard watched his reflection in the mirror eat pieces of glass, which resulted in his face being all cut to shreds. Our new security guard has some issues of his own, and seems to spend half his time seeing his psychiatrist. He soon starts seeing visions of people dying horrible deaths, only those visions become real as his high up bosses start dying around him, in brilliant ways. It would seem the victim’s reflection does unspeakable things to themselves, and whatever the reflection does, this happens to the victim. We see one guy get gutted with the use of superb special effects, we see the painful Achilles heel sliced open, the threat of a pizza slicer and also one of the best decapitation scenes of the last ten years. In fact, the glorious decapitation is done so well, it brought back memories of Argento’s genius.

The film glorifies in all things that make a good horror, the violence is well produced and lovingly produced, the story flows at a decent pace and the films short running time ensures you never really get bored, its central character is a bit daft but even with his odd looking face and terrible hair, you will warm to him, oh, and it also has one of the most blatantly perverse showers scenes for quite some time. One of the rather attractive bosses decides to take a shower, the way she turns around and drops her dressing gown is almost comical, but it’s the way the camera slithers around the shower that borders on feeling uncomfortable as we watch her shower. Fair play to director Victor Garcia, he knows how to make a horror.

So, what bad then? Well, the scripting has some shocking moments, and we head towards another one of those daft finales that feels is has to provide meaning and depth to the reasons for the killings. A rape scene is almost turned comical by some dreadful acting, and the special effects loss their way quite rapidly. The story keeps chugging along right to the end, and there are some interesting twists and turns but it’s hard to get away from the fact this is a cheap horror made by a director only just finding his feet.  Based on this effort though, the name Victor Garcia just may be one to look out for. With the dreadful Return to House on Haunted Hill behind him, things can only look up, and with the Hellraiser remake next on his list, we just might well be in for a treat (even though I’m still against the idea).

Rating: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

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About Matt Wavish 598 Articles
A keen enthusiast and collector of all horror and extreme films. I can be picky as i like quality in my horror. This doesn't necessarily mean it has to be a classic, but as long as it has something to impress me then i'm a fan. I watch films by the rule that if it doesn't bring out some kind of emotive response then it aint worth watching.

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