Horrorthon '09 Part 4: Mirrors 0comments
published in
2009-10-20 15:16:00
quote
1 floor
Kiefer Sutherland has a problem. Despite the fact that he starred in loads of things before 24 you just understand that for ever more he's only going to be Jack Bauer in the eyes of everyone in t ...
Kiefer Sutherland has a problem. Despite the fact that he starred in loads of things before 24 you just understand that for ever more he's only going to be Jack Bauer in the eyes of everyone in the universe.With that in mind I'm guessing that Kiefer agreed to star in this not-all-bad horror flick in an attempt to avoid being completely typecast in the future. And yet there were a handful of scenes throughout this movie where he was acting so completely Baueresque I half expected Chloe O'Brian to call him up with a structure schematic or say something clumsy and catty. You can receive Kiefer out of the 24 except you can't take 24 out of the Kiefer so it would seem.
Anyway this time Jack Kiefer plays Ben Carson a recovering alcoholic who takes a new job love an overnight security guard at a condemned old abandoned department store。 shop which burned down years ago.
Er... give you the creeps much? I remember I once had a job which involved me having to check out an empty warehouse on occasion. And I *hated* it. All I had to do was go on a quick tour of the building to check it hadn't been invaded by squatters or families of rodents but I was totally shit-scared of the place. And yet this weird old department store is much much worse. Seriously I would consider hooking before taking a job here.
What is more weird is that despite the interior of the building having been barbequed the mirrors are all remarkably pristine and sparkling. The reason for this allegedly is that the disastrous soul who had the job beforehand liked to keep them scrupulously clean and polished. You should know that this is the same unfortunate soul we witnessed slicing his neck open in the movie's opening segment. Erk.
Or should I say the unfortunate soul whose reflection we witnessed slicing his neck open. That's right in a neat little Elm Street-esque twist it appears that something is not quite right™ with these horrid old shop mirrors. Putting it succinctly whatever happens in your reflection happens to you for real. That wouldn't be a problem if you saw your reflection winning the lottery or holidaying in Barbados of course but since this is a horror film what normally happens is something much more gruesome and terrifying.
First night on the job it's inevitable that Ben starts to see all sorts of horrendous visions in the mirrors. One particularly appalling vision shows his reflection spontaneously bursting into flames. But Ben smells the smoke. He feels the pain. Naturally however nobody believes Ben's insane story instead preferring to trust he's been doing the drinky-drinky motion with a bottle (or twenty) of er... Jack. But when the evil powers of the mirrors start to multiply and begin targeting his family members [his sister meets her maker in a not very pleasant bathroom scene involving her jaw being ripped off] Ben decides it's up to him to put a stop to all the reflective horror carnage.
Before as well long we find out that the department store is hiding a dark secret [aren't they all?] this time in the shape of a psychiatric hospital hidden within its walls. And behind one of the mirrors reveals the name Esseker Ben gets to unravel the mystery which includes er...2f6 the demonic possession of a nun. Alas I am truly not kidding.
In spite of some genuinely good scares and one or two memorably gory moments all in all the film is a little too familiar to every other scary movie about at the moment. You won't wish for the running time to be added to your life expectancy at the end or anything like that - and it's certainly better than watching stain dry - but I can't help feeling a little disappointed by this one.
2.5 out of 5
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