Trying to piece his life back together after a tragic accident, Max decides to help his father by becoming the new night watchmen at the Mayflower, unaware of what happened to the previous guy. Max is also unaware of the murder that transpired in the building until the young woman starts to appear to him in the mirrors while at the same time killing off his fellow employees.
I was a fan of the original MIRRORS film simply because of Kiefer Sutherland. Don’t get me wrong, it was a cool horror flick and sported some over the top gore thanks to director Alexandre Aja who simply adores the overabundance of red stuff. And speaking of that, the scene that made MIRRORS as popular as it is (the bathtub scene) is one that will forever be remembered by all those who watch it. That said, MIRRORS didn’t do much else for me and the last thing I ever expected to see was a sequel, yet here we are. MIRRORS 2 is a clichéd waste of time, filled to the brim with a stiff dose of “same ol, same ol” that goes down a lot like turpentine.
If you’re reading this I have no doubt you’ve already read my SAW 3D review as well, and as I stated in that review, many horror films have branched off into the torture porn end of the spectrum, pushing pointless gore tactics like it’s a fresh concept. Well, it isn’t and that’s exactly what we get here. This film’s storyline is weak and really doesn’t go anywhere for the first hour or so. What we do see right off the bat is a gruesome series of deaths via the evil versions of each victim in the mirrors. Sadly, you don’t know why it’s happening until close to the end of the film, instead they focus on Max’s traumatic experience (another used up scenario) which is tossed and forgotten as the story unfolds making me wonder why in hell they spent so much time with it in the first place.
I’m not fond of the cast here either, led by a boring Nick Stahl. I thought he was a horrible choice for John Connors in T3 and though his performance in SIN CITY was of merit, it’s clearly done nothing for him as now he’s showing up in straight to DVD flicks where I guess he belongs. The acting was rather stiff across the board anyway (I did like the two cops, they’re dialogue was hilarious), not surprising as most of these characters don’t live very long anyway. I’m still confused as to why Max’s father was even in here to begin with, talk about a pointless character build up, he clearly had nothing to do with what was going on yet the mirrors were still going to kill him and then poof, he’s gone from the story leaving nothing behind but an odd plot hole.
MIRRORS 2 is just another drummed out, pointless, straight to DVD sequel that does nothing but give the original a bad name. The entire premise makes no sense; why would they rebuild the Mayflower a second time considering all the carnage that happened there twice before? Why would anyone want to use one of the original mirrors after what happened in the last movie? We could debate the lack of logic surrounding this film for hours but there’s no need as I’m sure you’ve gathered by now that watching this movie is about as smart as juggling rusty fish hooks in the dark. The first one is still worth your time but watching the second one just may give you seven years of bad luck.
Video: 1.78:1 Widescreen in 1080p HD with AVC codec. Visually this thing looked dazzling, making the graphic death scenes even grizzlier. This is definitely not for the squeamish.
Audio: 5.1 DTS-HD in English, French and Spanish with the same subtitle options. The score was alright but not overly provoking as you know exactly when something’s going to happen.
The Other Side: Making Mirrors 2 (9:39): The Director and producers swap stories about what they brought to the table here and why they (supposedly) chose a different tone from the original. I find it both hilarious and ironic that they all bash “traditional” horror sequels when that’s exactly what they made here.
Keeping it Real: The Visual and Special Effects of Mirrors 2 (12:33): The cast all weigh in on each other’s gruesome deaths (one chick even compares hers to the infamous shower scene from PSYCHO…riiiiight) and then go through the technical aspects behind the gore, confirming my theory of going for over-the-top gore tactics.
Mirrors 2 Bonus View (1:30:00): This cool feature lets you watch the film as is until a scene involving the evil mirrors comes along. At this point you can choose to view things from the chick in the mirror’s perspective much like the scenes in the film when she’s looking out at Max.
Deleted Scenes (2:08): These two short and pointless scenes are completely unnecessary and although one of them tries to shed some extra light on the first watchman’s night in question, it’s still rather dull.
This unrated combo pack also features a DVD copy of the film as well as the Blu-ray.
