After watching 'Mirrors 2' I got to thinking about crappy horror movies in general. Why must the story always center on some child, or young girl who was wronged in her life? Why must that girl, who is now haunting the people left behind, always appear to the person she wants to have help her looking like Samara's evil twin? If she has the ability to appear to the movie's protagonist, wouldn't it make better sense for her to appear nicely, explain her side of the story, and then get on with the rest of eternity? I guess I think too logically when it comes to these silly haunting horror movies that are always solved by some brave soul who takes on the task of rogue investigator.
'Mirrors 2,' like its predecessor 'Mirrors, ' is based solely on the fact that whenever there is a major change or advancement in plot the main characters must be around some type of reflective surface. Evil comes from the mirrors, so conveniently most of these people live around more mirrors than most of us see in a week. Really, what kind of single man lives with a full-length body mirror in his living room?
Max is still mentally recovering from a car accident that killed his fiancée. Now he sees things…in the mirrors! He takes a job as a nighttime security guard at his father's work. The place is called Mayflower, and I honestly have no idea what kind of business it was. Was it an art gallery? A business convention center? Who knows. What I do know is that Mayflower is the perfect place for this movie to be set. Why? Well because as is requisite for 'Mirrors 2', this business has a load of opportunely placed mirrors throughout it.
A young girl who used to work at Mayflower, named Eleanor, has gone missing. She appears to Max in visions as a zombie-like figure who stands and stares out of the mirror. She soon begins killing Mayflower employees in different, gruesome ways. Her victims watch the mirror as their own reflection moves as if it's its own entity. The reflection starts injuring itself with sharp objects, and just like a voodoo doll the same injuries are inflicted on the real people. Of course this is all about revenge, but when we meet young Eleanor in a flashback it's hard to think of her as such a cool-blooded murderer.
'Mirrors 2' uses all the predictable scare tactics (thank goodness they stayed away from the random cat scare though). The camera moves away from a mirror to the sink as the character washes their face and then back up to the mirror, BOOM! Scary image. It's all like clockwork, and that's how it goes right up to the predictable, overacted ending. You shouldn't have wasted your time with the first 'Mirrors' movie, but if you did this sequel is something you'll want to stay far away from.
The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats
'Mirrors 2' comes on one single-layer BD-25 disc. It also comes with a flipper DVD that contains a DVD version of the film along with a copy of the original Korean film called 'Into the Mirror.'
'Mirrors 2' actually looks pretty good in HD, barring some horrendous special effects that are made to look even worse in 1080p. When the reflection of a girl removes her own head it really is pretty hilarious looking. Bad green screen effects aside, 'Mirrors 2' has a respectable Blu-ray presentation on its hands.
The color palette of the film consists of dingy grays and icy blues. At times we get a mirror point of view which is distorted and bathed in a puke yellow color. The image is clear of any source noise. No flecks or spots to speak of. Even during low-light situations shadows are bold and the detail stays nice and strong. Blacks are evenly rendered, with a deep inky look. There aren't any artifacts to speak of, except for the banding that can be seen during the fade-in-fade-out title sequence.
If you're intent on picking this one up, at least you can rest easily knowing you're getting great picture for a direct-to-video release.
The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track, while serviceable, won't blow you away by any means. There are no big problems with the overall audio experience, but it just isn't an audio mix that's going to make you jump for joy.
Oddly, much of the sound design is focused up front. Rears would've been a great place to hide spooky sounds, but the surrounds stay pretty silent or restrained for much of the film. Dialogue is nicely prioritized, and the boom scares are given a nice bit of emphasis to cue you into the movie's scary moments. LFE kicks in during the gloomy soundtrack, and when Eleanor appears all scary looking in reflections. The bass isn't as deep as it could be, but it offers a light rumbling that works well with the movie's standard scare scenes.
While the audio presentation may not surprise you as much as the video, it still works for this movie.
'Mirrors 2' follows along in the same stupidity that made the first movie almost unbearable to watch, and this one doesn't even have a gruff-talking Kiefer Sutherland to take your mind off the horrendous storyline. If you're dying to see this know that you're actually picking up a pretty good disc, with some nice looking visuals, a slightly above average audio presentation, and some really decent extras (Plus an extra movie!). I'm still recommending you skip it, but I know the first 'Mirrors' had its following, so this may be one folks will want to pick up.
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