Apparently horror films can be dull. Mirrors is an American remake of a 2003 Korean film called 'Into the mirror', which if the comments on many sites are to be believed is a much better film. Then when is a remake ever better?

The premise sounded a little interesting. A young girl with schizophrenia is strapped and locked into a mirrored room as part of an experiment. It was believed that schizophrenia was a psychological condition that could be cured when the person afflicted is faced with their own image for an exceedingly long period. The experiment worked, but the mirrors 'absorbed' all the schizophrenic personalities of the girl.

Fast forward a few decades and the mirrors have been re-used in a shopping mall that mysteriously (really?) burned down. Anyone who comes into contact with the mirrors is exposed horrific events taking place within them, including being forced to witness and partake in their own deaths.

OK upon reflection (sorry about that) it does sound rather lame.

Gross inconsistencies and plot holes kept getting in the way of what could have been a semi interesting viewing. Even though the mirrors are clearly the source of the evil (due to the aforementioned experiment) at some stage the director realised that the audience would have a hard time believing that people are exposed to mirrors every second of their lives, so the mirror concept is extended to include anything with a reflection, including shiny doorknobs and water. Furthermore they decided to take the evil mirror concept away from it's source (and the only place it made sense for it to be happening) by extending it to anywhere the protagonist traveled, even though there was no conceivable reason or explanation for it. The only reason I could come up with was that it would be a less interesting film it it was entirely based inside the burnt out shopping mall.

One glaring problem with the entire film though was the simple fact that as long as you didn't look into the mirror, there was no problem. So all you had to do was lay them face down or break them and throw away. But why let little things like that get in the way?

Anyway, enough with the bad, what about the good? Kiether Sutherland did an admirable job acting in what was clearly an average plot with questionable direction. The twist ending was hardly a surprise (I was able to predict it a good 30 seconds in advance), even though it didn't make any sense to have happened.

If you're into your horror films, I want to say you could do a lot better that Mirrors. But it depends on what you want out of a horror flick. If you're still easily scared by those lazy scare scenes you see in just about all predictable horror films, then you might enjoy Mirrors. For the rest of us, there is little to be found beyond some interesting special effects.

HiDef trailer.