Mirrors

Product Description

Ben Carson (KIEFER SUTHERLAND) has seen better days. It's been nearly a year since the volatile detective was suspended from the NYPD for fatally shooting another undercover officer, an accident that not only cost him his job, but fueled the alcoholism and anger that has alienated his wife and kids and left him crashing on his sister's couch in Queens. Desperate to pull his life together and reconnect with his family, Carson takes a job as a night watchman at the burned-out ruins of the Mayflower department store. What once was a symbol of prosperity and grandeur now sits decaying in the darkness like a rotting ghost ship, destroyed by a massive fire that devoured numerous innocent lives. As Carson patrols the eerie, charred remains of the store, he begins to notice something sinister about the ornate mirrors that adorn the Mayflower walls. Reflected in the gigantic shimmering glass are horrific images that stun Carson. Beyond projecting gruesome images of the past, the mirrors appear to be manipulating reality as well. When Carson sees his own reflection being tortured, he suffers the physical effects of his fractured visions. Suddenly the troubled ex-cop finds himself battling his personal demons and the ones that have hijacked his reflection, tormenting him with convulsions, spontaneous bleeding and near suffocation. His sympathetic but skeptical sister Angela (AMY SMART) dismisses these bizarre "nightmares" as a consequence of his stress and guilt over the accidental shooting, but Carson's estranged wife Amy (PAULA PATTON), a no-nonsense NYPD medical examiner, is less forgiving. Her husband's increasingly erratic behavior frightens her, pushing his family farther away - and, she fears, it's putting their children in danger. But a much deadlier threat looms, trapped within the mirrors and reflective surfaces that pervade their everyday life. As Carson investigates the mysterious disappearance of a Mayflower security guard and its possible connection to his ghastly visions, he realizes that a malevolent, otherworldly force is using reflections as a gateway to terrorize him and his family. If he has any hope of saving his wife and children from a horrifying death, Carson must somehow uncover the truth behind the mirrors - and convince Amy to help him battle the greatest evil he has ever faced.

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Kiefer Sutherland anchors this supernatural thriller from Hills Have Eyes (2006) director Alexandra Aja about an abandoned building that harbors vengeful spirits. Sutherland brings a degree of his 24 intensity to his role as a disgraced police detective working a security detail at a derelict building. A package from a former security guard--who commits suicide in the film’s eerie opening moments--alerts Sutherland to the building’s tragic past, as well as to the presence of dark forces with the ability to harm the living; once aware of their presence, Sutherland and his family become their next target. Mirrors works best in its first third, where Joseph Nemec’s production design delivers maximum chills. Where the film stumbles is its rush to provide a slam-bang conclusion filled with CGI and other effects, resulting in an unsatisfying, open-ended conclusion that does much to dispel the film’s impressively Gothic atmosphere. The unrated DVD presentation differs from the theatrical cut by mere seconds, and the alternate ending included among the battery of deleted scenes is a more satisfying conclusion than the one used in the film. --Paul Gaita