The Mirror (2014) Reviews

• Fatal flaw

  begob2015-01-05

  This is good ... The characters are fresh and likable (although the camera dude is a bit irritating), the premise is like a solid 19th century ghost story, and the pace is decent. ... but what in H was the director/writer thinking? He forgot to cut off the phones! I couldn't believe it. From about 30m the only plausible course of action was to ring for help. First some relative, then maybe a doctor, and when the possessed guy went blind it had to be emergency services. Even at the very end no attempt at 999. Impossible for the audience to disregard. The only gesture was to have camera dude slumped on the floor finishing a call to someone unidentified. Or maybe the bit about the phone charger. Maybe the mirror could have interfered. Maybe some back story to explain a family falling out over the inheritance of the apartment. Maybe a threat to evict the girl and camera dude if they phoned. But nothing. I know it's not an original concept, but that has to be dealt with at the screenplay stage - "note to self: we are NOT lost in the woods". Given the quality of the rest, I'm stumped. Good story ruined through carelessness. Disappointing.

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• ZzzzzZ

  Krackoon2014-10-02

  Quite possibly the most boring, senseless found footage crap fest to date. 'The Mirror' starts out as your usual paranormal found footage fright flick, but with a slight twist - nothing happens. The film starts off with the unwrapping of the most pathetic haunted antique ever put on film, and manages to go down hill from that moment on. The movie consists of 90 minutes of a guy sleep walking, wetting his pants, and somehow surgically removing his eyes in a fashion that leaves no traces of blood behind, at least not in the apartment (probably a budget issue, since fake blood probably costs about $2 a pop.) One of the finer moments in the film comes during a probable break in of the flat, which has our three pals coming home and finding their door kicked in. Now, most normal people would inform the police of this issue, since, well, the door was obviously opened from the out side - but instead, they somehow come to the conclusion that a ghostly presence caused this. If we think about it, I guess it could be possible that the apparition was slightly confused about it's whereabouts at the time. Yes, let's go with that. Random Ramblings of a Madman: 'The Mirror' is hands down the most lazily put together found footage film to date, which is really bad, since that's how most found footage films are put together - they're a low budget director's wet dream, yet whoever put this thing together, comes across as a person who really has no idea what the hell he/she is doing.

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• The Mirror: A Surprising Reflection

  Platypuschow2015-06-03

  When I came across The Mirror everything I saw and read about it was the epitome of hatred and dislike. Everybody slated the film left right and centre and this peeked my curiosity. I gave it a chance and found it immediately was fighting an uphill battle as it is in fact a found footage film. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with found footage films, my problem is that there are just so damn many lately........and most of them are terrible.The whole style of movie has enabled film makers with no money or experience to make a movie and it immediately puts it in a bad light for me.I don't even like the "Critically Acclaimed" Paranormal Activity series! Anyway within 5 minutes I was finding myself quite enamored with the film. Primarily because of the likable characters and the really quite good performances by the three young actors. It quickly became apparent that this movie was not going to break any new ground and would be a fairly standard predictable affair but the actors made these 90 minutes and limited script quite enjoyable. Now without giving anything away the movie does something quite unique. For the last 20 minutes I was finding myself almost wincing as I knew that something was coming, most likely a big jump scare. It kept me waiting in anticipation, it teased......and I liked it. Comparing this to the likes of the Occulus is foolish, you cannot compare a mega budget Hollywood blockbuster to a low budget indie film on the same scale. Take each movie for what it is and this really entertained me. Don't compare, don't put emphasis on its budget or unknown actors, just turn out the light and give this a chance and you may be surprised. If you want big budget, if you want big cgi and constant action then you won't enjoy this. If you want a well constructed, well acted and interestingly paced horror then give it a try. You like me may be surprised. www.platypuschow.com

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• Goes nowhere - spoilers

  sforrester-32015-05-05

  This film seems to be full of big build ups that lead nowhere. Obviously it was shot on a very tight budget and, at times, they did manage to build the suspense but there was no pay off. We are all used to the sheer stupidity of people in horror films but these ones take it to a new level. **major spoilers** Their flat appears to be broken into, no call to the police. The guy goes blind (yes..blind!) and they tuck him up in bed with no call for medical help. They start off three happy flatmates until the mirror arrives, it all goes downhill and yet not until the end does it dawn on one of them to even try and get rid of it. One of them disappears, clearly in a bad way and yet they don't report him missing. The list goes on... I gave this a 3, mainly because the acting was passable and I did jump once but I will mourn the hour and a half of my life that I will never get back.

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• Creepy mirror horror sub-genre carries on

  victoryismineblast2014-09-30

  This found footage entry features 3 flatmates who buy a supposed haunted antique mirror online in the hope of winning a million dollars in a paranormal challenge. All they have to do is prove the existence of ghosts. They of course set up the mirror on the wall, and the apartment up in cameras, as things slowly get out of hand. One of the three immediately starts to undergo a drastic mental transformation, and the other two simply don't know how to deal with it. Things get progressively creepy and weirder around the apartment as they finally start to wonder if the mirror is really haunted. The first hour of this movie is creepy and effective in places, but does suffer a little from being a little repetitive, with not much moving the plot forward from time to time. The last half hour ramps up the tension and is where the film really delivers in its scares. There is a little bit of gore and a couple of nice scary sequences. Overall worth a watch, especially for fans of the found footage sub-genre.

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