Attempting to pick up the pieces of his shattered life, a disgraced former cop takes a routine security job guarding the charred ruins of the once famous Mayflower department store in New York. But the terrifying images he sees in the buildings ornate mirrors will send him on a crazy mission to find out deadly secrets from the past.....before it destroys his whole family

Mirrors was pretty much doomed for terrible critical reviews from the start. Horror never scores big with film critics; in fact I can't remember the last horror film that got more positive reviews than negative. If the horror film in question is a remake, especially of a foreign movie, it's almost destined for critical failure. There's a reason for that: most horror remakes are utter garbage and are solely created so studios can make a quick buck. However, once in a while, a horror film remake will come along that actually isn't half bad, yet will still suffer negative reviews based on the fact that it's a horror film remake. It happened several years ago with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and more recently, with The Hills Have Eyes.

Mirrors has suffered a similar fate. Directed by French horror director Alexandre Aja, the same man behind The Hills Have Eyes, Mirrors is a remake of a Korean horror film, as well as the best wide-release horror film of the year thus far. While I'll admit I probably enjoyed the film much more than most will, it's still miles better than the critic's lousy reviews or lackluster promotion would have you believe.

Kiefer Sutherland stars as Ben Carson, an ex-cop suffering from emotional issues after a "workplace accident" and a messy divorce. Sick of sleeping on his sister's couch, he takes up a job as a security guard at an abandoned department store that was devastated by a fire many years back. The job seems easy enough, primarily consisting of walking through the building every couple hours, making sure there are no trespassers. Things take a turn for the worse though, after several strange encounters involving the mirrors in the building, and Ben begins to find that his own reflection is haunting him, not only at the job, but in any mirror or reflective object (or liquid) he comes across. Soon enough, Ben find his life, as well as his families, in danger.

Mirrors biggest strength is the storyline, easily one of the best horror premises to hit the screen in years (even if it is recycled). Reflections are practically inescapable, not only appearing just in mirrors, but in doorknobs, windows and water. The inescapability of reflections is what makes the idea of one's reflection out to get them so chilling. They're everywhere. You can't escape them. Not since Nightmare on Elm Street, where ones own dreams were the cause of death, has there been a supernatural premise that has gotten so much under my skin. The fact that whatever the mirror images do to themselves happens to their real life counterparts, only heightens the hopelessness of Carson and his family.

Alexandre Aja has already proved his ability to create genuine scares with previous films, but most have been of the brutal, violent kind, as opposed to the atmospheric chills usually employed in supernatural horror movies that are more reliant on the mood and feeling than shocking acts of brutality for scares. Surprisingly, Aja's penchant for gore and violence complements the film surprisingly well. The sequences inside the derelict department store at night build up suspense very well, utilizing the eerie location with corpses manifesting themselves within the mirrors and screams emitting from within deep recesses of the building. It's fairly generic stuff for movies like this, but Aja is talented enough stylistically to pull them off. However, it's the sequences where Aja really lets loose that prove to be the most frightening. One sequence that takes place in a bathtub ends up being one of the most brutal and unsettling death scenes of the year. There are several of these sequences sprinkled throughout the film and they are extremely effective, utilizing a combination of brutality and atmospheric suspense that are, at the least, shocking. When a ghost pops out in one scene, it isn't a pale, long black haired Asian woman, nor a semi-transparent floating apparition: it's a half-naked female with half her body burned off, the flesh still sizzling off her burnt carcass as she wails in pain. That's the difference between Mirrors and most other ghost films.

The biggest downfall of the film is when it tries to provide an explanation for the horrific events taking place in the second half. The idea of one's image terrorizing oneself is horrifying on one level, but at the same time, it's extremely unrealistic. Trying to explain why this happened back fires on the film, as no explanation is going to make sense and instead, will just draw attention to the fact that this would never happen in real life, destroying a bit of the film's effect. The audience doesn't need to know why this happens. Ambiguity in this case would be much more frightening and wouldn't take away from any of the other scares. Once you throw in a sub-plot about mental institution experiments and haunting tragedies taking place in the building, you lose a lot of the suspense. Despite the unwise direction the movie takes in its second half, it's still entertaining and manages to retain a few good scares here and there, while finally rebounding in the last act.

Mirrors isn't perfect (what film is?), but its strengths far outweigh its weaknesses and in the end, it's the most enjoyable wide-release horror film of the year (although personally, the only other decent wide-release horror film this year would be The Strangers). Benefiting from a brilliant premise and the unlikely combination of French director Alexandre Aja's love of blood and brutality with an atmospheric, supernatural storyline, Mirrors is definitely much better than what one would expect of a typical Korean horror movie remake, let alone any horror movie that hits theaters.

What can i say for this film. Its perfect. I love it. I hope that the second one will be as good as this one. Its scary and creepy. I jumped a few times while i watched it for the first time. I can stop watching it. Its a perfect movie reccomented if you like horror movies. 5/5 for me. GREAT work!

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

New York cop Ben Carson (Kiefer Sutherland) quit the force after an undercover assignment went tragically wrong. He takes a job as a night watch man on the reconstruction site of a burned down department store to get by. However, one thing he notes is the really large mirrors there- and from then on, whenever he looks in the mirror, it's as if some sinister force has taken hold of his life and he's driven to desperate lengths to find out why and to stop it.

Kiefer Sutherland spent years in the acting wilderness, but spent the best part of the noughties developing an iconic figure of his own in the shape of Agent Jack Bauer with the hit TV show 24. Still a hit series today, the man has enough clout to get a lead role in a big studio production like Mirrors. But by choosing projects as piecemeal as this, his star may continue to shine brightest on TV.

The DVD of the film offers the theatrical version or the far gorier 18 rated uncut version, which I, always preferring the fuller picture, chose to watch. Outrageous and gratuitous gore, though, will only perk things up for the most shallow viewers. The clunky script and hollow dialogue are like sketching paper for the formulaic, by the numbers film Mirrors is. It's not predictable and there is some strong mystery behind the curse of the mirrors, but the revelation at the end is just ridiculous and baffling and there is no genuine feeling of tension or suspense through any of it. Even more unintentionally funny are Sutherland's sister's death and the 'spooky' bit where he redundantly fires bullets at the mirrors which show no damage. The film pretentiously and presumptuously tries to round itself off with a Sixth Sense style, profound ending which turns the story on it's head but the effect is too transparent to make any impact.

Not an awful little horror film at all, just an unremarkable and preposterous one, best served for an in flight movie on a red eye flight home. **

I love this film. This was another awesome horror film that I watched. I liked the story line that they got from down south. The acting was great, the kill scene was great and the ending was even better.

If you have not seen Mirrors as yet make sure you do!

This movie is so good because it is nothing a thriller but not about zombies, vampires or serial killers. It makes us feel so afraid that we have to look away many times. I totally recommend this movie for people who enjoy thriller as much as I do. Good acting too.