[IMDB link] [Netflix link]
PEOPLE: Directed by Victor Garcia, a relative nobody. He did the 30 Days Of Night: Blood Trails mini-series, and is working on some new Hellraiser: Revelations straight-to-dvd movie. I guess this is a “sequel guy”.
Starring Nick Stahl (Ben Hawkins from Carnivale, John Conner from Terminator 3, Yellow Bastard from Sin City) as the “Kiefer for the sequel” nightwatchman. Great to actually recognize him for once. BEN HAWKINS!!!!
Co-starring Emmanuelle Vaugier (CSI:NY, Dr. Helen Bryce from 9 eps of Smallvile, Saw 2 & 4).
The saddest character — retarded AND stalked by by mirrors — is played by Evan Jones (Cheddar Bob from 8 Mile). Ms. Rufie (“Jenny McCarthy”) is played by Christy Carlson Romano, the voice of Kim Possible (WTF!).
Matheson is played by William Katt — that is, The Greatest American Hero!!!!!!!!!! I did not recognize his face, at all!! Even though I recognized the name in the opening credits… Nope. Totally didn’t recognize him!
Elenor Reigns (mirror demon) was played by Stephanie Honore, who was in The Final Destination 3-D. Not that she’s in any big roles at all, but I thought it was interesting that we’d at least seen her before.
And that black cop? Lance E. Nichols? He was Preacher from Benjamin Button.
PLOT SUMMARY: Mirrors are fucking evil. Get away from them.
UNCOMFORTABLE PLOT SUMMARY (inspired by this): [highlight for spoilers]→ Retard helps rapist; vigilantes kill him.
QUIRKS: A sequel to Mirrors 1, which was based on the Korean horror film Into The Mirror. And yet, Mirrors 2 actually borrowed MORE material from Into The Mirror than Mirrors 1 did! Is this a remake of Into The Mirror? Is it a sequel of a remake of Into The Mirror? Is it a 2nd remake of Into The Mirror? It’s kind of hard to say, but really, Into The Mirror was remade into both Mirrors 1 *AND* Mirrors 2. This one was actually MORE faithful to the original than Mirrors 1 was. It’s quite interesting to remake 1 movie as 2 movies, borrowing different parts from each one. I haven’t seen a remake quite handled like this.
By the way — if you read all the newspaper clippings during the opening credits, one announced that Ben Carson (Kiefer) [highlight for spoilers]→ died in the building collapse (of Mirrors 1).
VISUALS: The effects were certainly more high-budget and polished than the simple, restrained elegance used in Into The Mirror… But the mirrors weren’t quite as nerve-racking as they were in Mirrors 1. They did, however, have some pretty damn explicit gore. Still, though, I think the visuals were perhaps best in Mirrors 1.
MORALS: Don’t murder people, umm-kay. Murder is bad, umm-kay. If you murder people, mirrors will exact their revenge on you, umm-kay.
GOOD STUFF: That this is truer to the original Into The Mirror movie than Mirrors 1 was a boon to this movie. The exclusion of a goofy “demon on present earth Evil Dead-esque boss battle” was a boon as well.
BAD STUFF: Yet it still felt like it was sequel material. It still wasn’t as *scary* as Mirrors 1. And goddamn, the main character was NOT as likable as Keifer Sutherland. After the shit he pulled — the stupidest fucking wedding proposal in the history of all fiction — he pretty much deserved to die! What a douche.
CONCLUSION: Far truer to the original Korean Into The Mirror, this sequel was actually “less Hollywood” and “less cheesy” than Mirrors 1. It was, however, unfortunately not as scary as Mirrors 1. But it also had the grossest kill scenes (that’s good). It’s very strange that Into The Mirror was remade into both Mirrors 1 *AND* Mirrors 2. All three are great movies. All three are worth seeing. All three are directly related to the other two. Mirrors are creepy as hell. Mirrors make horror movies worth watching. I’d definitely recommend all 3 of these films.
RATINGS:
Clint: Netflix: 4/5 stars. IMDB: 8/10.
Carolyn: Netflix: 4/5 stars. IMDB: 7/10. “yeah, they didn’t pull any punches with the gruesomeness in Mirrors 2. from shower-head decapitations to eyeball stabbings to intestines slopping out of guts… yuck.. but it didn’t seem as … psychologically thrilling like the others… I think it was more similar to the Korean movie than Mirrors 1. I think overall, I still liked Mirrors 1 better.”
Parthena: Netflix: 3/5 stars. IMDB: 6/10. “I think there were some things they did really well (like integrating the girl into the plotline, like the Korean movie) but others I was so-so about. Also, I think Mirrors 2 was by far grosser than the Korean version. Mirrors 1 was more *horrific* (like when Kiefer’s sister got her jaw pulled off while she was taking a bath), which was kind of gross, but that scene last night with the guy’s intestines coming out of his gut was SO INSANELY GROSS.”
TwoBeans: “Slightly better than halfway bad.”
The native public rating for this movie is: IMDB: 4.7/10 (vs 6.1/10 for Mirrors 1), Netflix: 3.3/5 stars (vs 3.2/5 for Mirrors 2).
(Netflix‘s predicted rating for us was 3.0/5 stars. That’s weird. Why did you think we would like this less than average, Netflix? Haven’t you been watching us watch all these mirror movies lately?!).
I think we all agree with the basic assessment that: Mirrors 1 > Into The Mirror > Mirrors 2.
COMPARISON SCORES: Netflix: Clint/Carolyn/Parthena:
Mirrors 1: 5/5/5, Into The Mirror: 4.6/4/4, Mirrors 2: 4/4/3,
COMPARISON SCORES: IMDB: Clint/Carolyn/Parthena:
Mirrors 1: 8/8/8, Into The Mirror: 8/8/7.5, Mirrors 2: 8/7/6.
RECOMMENDATION: I’m thinking that perhaps the best order to watch these 3 movies might be: Into The Mirror, Mirrors 1, Mirrors 2. There’s just enough different in Mirrors 1 from Into The Mirror that you won’t quite expect what happens… And there’s just enough in Mirrors 2 directly lifted from Into The Mirror that you won’t be as disappointed as you normally would from a sequel. These are all 3 worth watching, as are the other great mirror horrors: The Broken and Dark Mirror. (We still haven’t watched Mirror Mirror 1 & 2, but may at a later date.)
Note that Into The Mirror *comes* with Mirrors 2 if you buy it. That’s quite awesome.
COINCIDENCES: Man, during the final cop interrogation, 2Beans joked, “I’ve never seen Good Cop-Good Cop before. It’s usually Good Cop-Bad Cop.” Something to that effect. Then, right after he said it, the scene ended, and the cops said, “That was the easiest interrogation ever! We’ve never tried good cop-good cop before!” Suffice to say, 2Beans received applause from all, and several, “Well done!”s in exchange for predicting it so well!
Also, this movie specifically had scenes that took place during the same day, month, and year that we were watching it on! HOW’D THEY KNOW!?!?! WHAT DOES IT MEAN?!?!
OTHER REVIEWS: Here’s a scathing 1/5 review. (more…)
Sister Decadence had a party. 
