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Saturday, November 29, 2008

Mirrors (2008)

Directed by: Alexandre Aja
Writers: Alexandre Aja (screenplay) & Grigory Levasseur (screenplay) et .al
Starring: Kiefer Sutherland (Ben Carson), Paula Patton (Amy Car-son), Cameron Boyce (Michael Carson)

Can anyone tell me if director Alexandre Aja has a fetish for remaking horror flicks. First he remade Wes Cavern's 'The Hills Have Eyes' to a considerable box office success. Now, in 'Mirrors' he turns to Korean horror for inspiration. Yes, yes, we are tired of Japanese ghosts, and we don't mind some Korean ones. But it was not to be. The story is purged of any oriental shadows. The film is set in New York, and later travels to a monastery somewhere in the interiors.
Are you expecting a firecracker of a horror flick? It's good news if you are not. You might just like the film. I did. It may not be fantastic, but the film has its moments, especially when the reflections on the mirrors refuse to leave even after the person has left the mirror, and these reflections have murderous intent. I have not seen the Korean version, but I'm sure, whatever Aja might have changed in the story, the ending is from the original. It's spooky. I'm not telling anymore.
Like all good horror stories about a hero with a haunted past, here too there's a disgrace cop from, where else, NYPD. Now, he works as a night ‘chowkidar’ at a burned-down building, which once was a swanky mall, which once was a mental hospital, where once there was a little girl with a serious problem. Oh, I am going ahead of the story.
So, our cop wants to find out what ails the place, why the mirrors shine when everything else in the place is dusty? Why the mirrors are showing him images from the past? Why the previous guard had run away?
You have to wait patiently till he finds the answers, or try to till, till the ghost/s in the mirrors come home to haunt his family.
The explanation is, if there's one, very flimsy. But Keifer Sutherland is believable. So is Paula Patton. Don't expect much and you will like the Aja fare.

Dibyajyoti Sarma

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