A disappointingly mundane Hollywood horror outing directed Alexandra Aja and sandwiched between two of his other films I consider excellent – THE HILLS HAVE EYES and PIRANHA 3D. MIRRORS's failure is all the more apparent when you compare the nature of this to the vitality and fun of the others; it's as if the decision was made to produce a deathly dull picture and somebody forgot to invest it with a single spark of life along the way.

The plot itself is workable, almost reminiscent of a good low budget '80s horror: mirrors are possessed by spirits of the dead. Unfortunately, little is made of this premise, and other than a couple of gruesome murder scenes the picture is entirely dull. Kiefer Sutherland, wading through murky waters in search of a paycheck, plays a family man caught up in the midst of supernatural evil but even he seems to realise he's mired in a film that doesn't go anywhere.

Along the way, the talents of Jason Flemyng and Julian Glover are wasted in throwaway roles, while Paula Patton seems to have been cast for her ability to look good in a variety of skimpy outfits and that alone. Aja's direction is sometimes pedestrian and sometimes above average – he handles a couple of water-bound set pieces very well, which goes to show that it's the underachieving script at fault here. MIRRORS could have been a good, old-fashioned scare-fest had more imagination been put into the story but as it stands it's a missable, forgettable bit of moneymaking.

The movie opens with night security guard Gary Lewis. His reflection in the mirror stabs himself and he dies in the real world with a wide open gash. Ben Carson (Kiefer Sutherland) resigned from the NYPD a year ago after a deadly shooting and he's now sleeping on his sister Angie (Amy Smart)'s couch. He's estranged from his wife Amy (Paula Patton) with whom he has two children. He has stopped drinking recently and trying to rebuild his life. He starts a new job as the night security guard at the burnt-out NYC Mayflower department store. He sees visions in the mirrors and they seem to be looking back at him.

I really like the look of the empty department store and the mirror room. The mirror idea is pretty cool. The CGI fire is not the best. There is also a missing element in this horror. Usually there is a question of whether this is all real or not in these kinds of movies. The fact that the first security guard as well as his son see the visions eliminates that possibility right from the start. Another problem is that this needs a physical embodiment of the evil that is both scary and can be put on a poster. It seems to be the perfect fit for an iconic supernatural killer in the mirror like Samara in 'The Ring'. That is missing here. As for the story, this movie needed to end earlier. The movie just goes on and on with Sutherland missing in action for large chunks of it. The movie overstays its welcome.

In New York, the former NYPD detective Ben Carson (Kiefer Sutherland) is hired to work as night watch of the remains of the Mayflower Department Store that was partially destroyed by fire many years ago. Ben became alcoholic and was retired from the police force after killing a man in a shooting. His marriage was also destroyed and now he is living in the apartment of his younger sister Angie (Amy Smart). However he has not been drinking for three months and sees the employment as a chance to rebuild his life. When he goes to the rounds in his first night, he finds that the mirrors are impeccably clean and his colleague explains that the former night watch was obsessed by the mirrors. After a couple of nights, Ben sees weird images in the mirrors, but due to the lack of credibility of his past, his ex-wife Amy (Paula Patton) believes he has hallucinations as a side effect of his medication. When Angie is found brutally murdered in her bathtub, Ben discovers that there is an evil force in the mirror that is chasing him and jeopardizing his family.

The first half of "Mirrors" is intriguing and scary, with a promising ghost story with good special effects and good performances. The dark cinematography is top-notch. Unfortunately, the resolution and the conclusion of the plot are very weak and quite disappointing with an open end ready for a sequel. The death of Angie is really an impressive scene of this horror movie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Espelhos da Morte" ("Mirrors of the Death")

Note: On 11 November 2016, I saw this film again.