Writer: Ezekiel Lee Zhiang Yang

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Watch this if you liked: “Alone”, “The Haunting”

Pivoting on a single plot device can sometimes be very rewarding for horrors. This is because the claustrophobic nuances we attach to a particular "haunted" object can be that much more intense, with nothing else to distract us.

However, plenty of things in "Mirrors" do. Kiefer Sutherland has always been screen friendly in all his roles but the surrounding cast completely fails him. One of the most distracting things in "Mirrors" were the "twin talents" of Halle B look-alike Amy Patton, who kept popping herself up wet, dry or windy in every scene. Patton used to live opposite the Twentieth Century Fox office and grew up loving movies as a kid - but in this, she completely lacks chemistry with Sutherland and director Alexandre Aja must have thought it was best to mask her very substandard acting with plenty of frontal captures of her womanly endowments. That would have worked if "Mirrors" were a sexploitation flick or camp classic wannabe like "Zombie Strippers", a movie that didn't make our screens this year for obvious reasons. Glaringly, it was neither nor. Ironically, I was also disappointed that teen movie staple Amy Smart turned "Slit Mouthed Woman" so soon when she would have carried off the wife's role better! Have they sexed up the wrong women?

Let's not detract from the theme. Mirrors are lovely objects to demonise, especially in Asian culture. It's unbelievably easy for any handicam-wielding film student to shoot a horror about mirrors. Why then was it hard to convince us in this effort?

It's not that the mirrors aren't scary. In fact, they will manage to get a jump or two out of you. It's that they were simply not "haunted" well enough. This evil in the mirror we are told to fear becomes very disconnected and distant as the show goes on, although our curiosity about Sutherland's fate remains strong. Without risking a spoiler, it's safe to say that "Mirrors" is one of Alexandre Aja's most disappointing works, especially if you are going to watch this because he is the director of cult classics such as "The Hills Have Eyes" and "Haute Tension". This reviewer did not manage to catch his "P2" earlier but hopefully it was a better outing than this.

"Mirrors" expands on an original premise to create an overlong adventure that turns out limp and layer-less. Excuse the customary lame exit pun - but reflect on this movie no further.

Cinema Online, 23 September 2008