Nick Stall:  Max Matheson
Emmanuelle Vaugier: 
                                     Elizabeth Reigns
Evan Jones:  Henry Schow
Christy Romano:  Jenna McCarty
William Katt:  Jack Matheson
Stephanie Honore Sanchez: 
                                       Eleanor Reigns

Release Date: October 19, 2010
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Genre: Horror
Rated: Unrated    1 hr 31 mins

CAST:

Mirrors 2

December 18, 2010

Reviewer: Rottenbucher

DIRECTOR:

Victor Garcia

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Dumped direct-to-DVD and without the MPAA’s input for marketing reasons, the sequel to Andre Aja’s extremely loose remake of the Korean Into the Mirror, now is more faithful to the source material than original Mirrors.  Make sense? Not really. But surprisingly the plot of Mirrors 2 makes sense; it’s just that it isn’t a very engaging ghost revenge flick.   As expected with 99% of all DVD-only horror titles, Mirrors 2 is unrated. Unfortunately there is little of that Aja-styled gore which was the only thing remarkable about the first film.  Instead, Mirrors 2 is unrated not because of gruesome scares, but rather due to an excessive shower sequence that the MPAA would have drastically shortened.

Max Matheson (Nick Stahl, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Carnivale) is trying to cope/recover from the accident that killed his fiancée.  While moping around and semi-sleeping days away, his father (William Katt, The Greatest American Hero, Carrie) decides to offer him a job as the night security guard at his new fashion store, Mayflower. It seems the last night watchman decided to break a mirror and eat the shards. Max reluctantly takes the job after the urging of his shrink and notices that not only do his coworkers seem weird, but the store just isn’t right.  It either is his antidepressant cocktail or lack of sleep causing him to see a decaying corpse in the store’s mirrors.  Max eventually learns of the missing coworker, Eleanaor, and then with the help of Eleanor’s sister, Elizabeth (Emmanuelle Vaugier, Saw II, Human Target, CSI:NY), decides to solve the mystery of the gruesome murders and ghost that plagues the Mayflower.

Mirrors 2 is by the numbers.  Most of the movie’s plot is severely telegraphed, there are very few scares and little tension.  Sure, eating glass is gross and seeing Christy Romano get her head lopped off is gruesome -  that doesn’t count as a spoiler if it’s in the trailer folks.  But then watching Romano shower, lather her breasts and shave her legs for nearly an eternity is salacious. Sure, she has a nice body, but director Victor Garcia (Return to House on Haunted Hill, the upcoming Hellraiser: Revelations) seems to have gotten a bit too fixated on the actress’ assets and let the scene drag on painfully (and perversely) long. And speaking of long, Mirrors 2 just drags. A snail, which breaks for a nap, has a better sense of pacing than this film. 

Nick Stahl plays tortured rather well, but appears to be actually sleepwalking though his role.  Vaugier is almost miscast as her appearance drastically sexes up the entire movie.  Yeah, there was that shower scene, but Vaugier fills out her endless supply of tight clothes rather well and prances about nicely.  And to add to her good looks, her character also does seem genuinely concerned about the whereabouts of her sister.  The rest of the cast does not add to the film and plays everything straight and unremarkable. That really isn’t their fault, but rather the films as the story tries to force and focus on a growing relationship between Max and Elizabeth while the rest of the characters and ghost story seem just tossed in to add just a hint of depth.

If you weren’t impressed by Mirrors, you really won’t be impressed with Mirrors 2.  It is just a flat film that plods along. Honestly, anyone who has seen any ghost-based revenge horror film knows exactly how Mirrors 2 will unfold 5-minutes in. So sitting around for the occasional gore sequence, scare or nude scene really isn’t worth it… unless you really want to get an eyeful of Romano or admire Vaugier.  But even then the fast-forward button on the remote might make Mirrors 2 drag on a bit more than it should.  Mirrors 2 is not awful, it’s just not recommended to any horror fans without sleep disorders.