Mirrors

Mirrors is a 2008 remake of the 2003 South Korean horror film Into the Mirror, directed by Alexandre Aja, director of the remake of The Hills Have Eyes, and starring Kiefer Sutherland. The film was first titled Into the Mirror, but the name was later changed to Mirrors. Filming began on May 1, 2007. The film was released on August 15, 2008. The film carries an R rating by the MPAA for strong violence, disturbing images, language and brief nudity.

Directed by : Alexandre Aja
Produced by : Alexandre Aja Grégory Levasseur
Written by : Alexandre Aja Grégory Levasseur
Starring : Kiefer Sutherland Paula Patton
Music by : Javier Navarrete
Cinematography : Maxime Alexandre
Distributed by : 20th Century Fox
Release date(s) : August 15, 2008
Country Romania : United States
Language: English
Budget : $35 Million

The movie starts with a man running away from something. He then runs into a room full of mirrors. He desperately apologizes to his reflection for running away in hopes of forgiveness. To his horror, the mirror begins to crack and a piece falls off. Trying to redeem himself, he picks up the shard with the intention of putting it back on the mirror. However, his reflection slashes his throat and the man dies.

Ben Carson (Kiefer Sutherland), a former undercover detective who was suspended after shooting another officer, takes a nighttime security job at a department store that was gutted by a fire. The department store used to be a psychiatric hospital that experimented in treating schizophrenia. In 1952, a mass killing took place and the hospital was closed. It was later reopened as a luxury department store, the Mayflower.

Ben’s round begins normally, though on his first night he sees a door open in a mirror’s reflection while it is actually closed. After investigating, he finds nothing. Following nights expose Ben to more intense visions, which he initially shrugs off as hallucinations. He also finds the wallet of Gary Lewis, the night watchman he is replacing. The only piece of information is a note that says “Esseker.” Ben further hallucinates being set on fire, as well as seeing victims in various parts of the store who were burned to death. Ben then receives a package from Gary Lewis that was sent several days before his death. The package contains newspaper clippings about the fire and other crimes. The man convicted of burning the Mayflower was also convicted of killing his wife and children.

Meanwhile, Angela, Ben’s sister, is getting in the bath and begins to relax, when suddenly her reflection grips her jaw and begins to slowly tear it off. She panicks, but eventually is killed as the jaw remains dangling by only a few muscles. Ben returns to the store and attempts to destroy the mirrors, but they prove impervious and even regenerative. He demands to know what the mirrors want, and ESSEKER appears on a mirror. Ben investigates and finds the name Anna Esseker, a patient of the psychiatric institute. She supposedly died in the mass killing, but Ben discovers that she was actually transferred out two days prior to the mass murder. He realizes that the mirrors will eventually kill his family if he does not find a solution. He attempts to remove or paint the surface of every mirror in his house, but his estranged wife Amy uncovers them and believes that he is undergoing a breakdown. She abandons these thoughts when she discovers her son Michael’s reflection in a mirror remains after her son leaves the room. Amy calls Ben, who immediately returns home, and together they cover the reflective surfaces. Shortly after, Ben discovers Anna Esseker’s home: a convent which she moved into after being cured. Anna explains to Ben that she was possessed by a demon, and while in the hospital she was confined to a chair and surrounded by mirrors, as the doctors’ believed the treatment would cure her schizophrenia. In reality, the demon within her was drawn from her and became trapped in the mirrors.

Ben begs Anna to come back to the department store so that the demon will leave his family alone. Anna refuses. Meanwhile, Ben’s family is attacked by the mirrors. Because he feels the demon in the mirrors is a friend, Michael cleans the paint from all reflective surfaces and turns all the faucets on . Amy is repeatedly attacked but saves her daughter from having her throat slashed. Amy calls Ben for help, and he abducts Anna at gunpoint. Anna returns to the mirror room and tells Ben to strap her tight, then leave immediately. Amy finds Michael playing in the water that is flooding the home and creating a reflective surface. To Amy’s horror, Michael is pulled through the surface of the water and is trapped on the other side.

As Anna opens her eyes and becomes repossessed, the mirrors explode. Ben returns to the mirror room and discovers that Anna can now crawl on the ceiling and walls and has superhuman strength. Ben shoots her but fails to wound her. He then impales her on a broken steam pipe that ignites a nearby gas line. He tries to escape the crumbling building but Anna attacks again and he is forced to fight her off. The building comes down on Anna, and Ben is able to escape.

At the family’s home, Amy claws at the surface of the water in an attempt to rescue her drowning son. Suddenly, Michael is released from the other side of the reflection and Amy is able to pull him to safety and revive him with CPR.

Ben, alive but injured, pulls himself out of the rubble and exits the building to the street. Police, paramedics and firemen are everywhere, but nobody stops Ben as he leaves. He realizes that something is different because the name on a badge is written in reverse; even a wound from earlier in the movie is on the opposite hand. Fleeing the scene, he happens upon a mirror and places his hand on it. The audience sees a mirror with Ben’s hand print on it. Ben is trapped in the mirror world.

Cast

* Kiefer Sutherland … Ben Carson
* Paula Patton … Amy Carson
* Cameron Boyce … Michael Carson
* Erica Gluck … Daisy Carson
* Amy Smart … Angela Carson
* Mary Beth Peil … Anna Esseker
* John Shrapnel … Lorenzo Sapelli
* Jason Flemyng … Larry Byrne
* Tim Ahern … Dr. Morris

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