Mirrors 2 – Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray Reviews, Reviews

It’s movies like Mirrors 2 that have completely changed what a Direct-to-Video (DTV) movie is all about. Movies like this one, Frozen, and Manson, My Name is Evil show how diverse the DTV market can be, and should help to lift the negative stigma that is associated with DTV films. Mirrors 2 isn’t perfect, but it is a great effort by a talented team of people.

Taking place after the original Mirrors, this sequel follows Max Matheson (Nick Stahl – Sin City) as he tries to recover after losing his girlfriend in a deadly car accident a year prior. He takes a job from his father, Jack Matheson (William Katt – The Greatest American Hero, Carrie), as a security guard at the newly renovated Mayflower. The mall is only days away from being reopened, but Max keeps seeing visions in the mall’s mirrors, and mall employees are being picked off in unusual manners. Max thinks he might see a connection between the two, and tries to stop the problem before it gets any worse.

Unbeknownst to me, the included DVD of the Korean film Into the Mirror is the original inspiration for Mirrors 2 and not the original Mirrors like I had expected. This led me to watching the Korean film first. Into the Mirror has a similar story: a security guard, Young-ho, working the nightshift at a mall starts seeing visions in a mirror, and thinks they may be related to deaths that have been occurring in the mall (which is also just a few days from reopening after a fire). This security guard, though, is faced with different given circumstances: instead of having killed his girlfriend in a car accident, Young-ho is dealing with the loss of his former police partner, who was killed while they were facing a hostage situation; Young-ho accidentally shot the mirror image of the bad guy instead of real person, resulting in the bad guy killing Young-ho’s partner. Young-ho has not been able to look at himself in the mirror since, but when the weird happenings begin at the mall, he is forced to turn his life around and help the detectives solve the murder cases.

As a film on the whole, Mirrors 2 is better than Into the Mirror, but the inspiration for the DTV sequel tells a more complete story. Into the Mirror is more of a character study than a horror film, which will bore some audiences. Mirrors 2, while not filled to the brim with scary moments, is able to maintain a sense of fear from the start, and gives the viewer the feeling that anything could jump up at any time, and this is a good horror effect that is difficult to create. The special effects are also much improved in the 2010 Mirrors 2 from the 2003 Into the Mirror, and it really stands out as a great effects film. There is a lot of blood and gore, but it never seems needlessly excessive. Into the Mirror had a completely different tone than Mirrors 2, and most modern horror fans will enjoy the remake/reimaging better than the original.

Nick Stahl first caught my eye with his performance in an independent film called Bully. He played an excellent bully character that the audience was supposed to dislike, but was able to bring a morsel of sympathy to the character. His work in Mirrors 2 is even better. Stahl is a real talent. His work as an actor is subtle, but he manages to find a wonderful amount of vulnerability, and brings a sense of truth to his characters that less-talented actors lack. He is a great lead. Co-star Emmanuelle Vaugiér (Saw II, 40 Days and 40 Nights), is beautiful, yet ineffective as the woman searching for her lost sister. She lacks emotional depth in this part, and audiences will find it difficult to care about her story. There were others along with Stahl that stand out as great: Evan Jones (playing Henry Schow), Lawrence Turner (playing Keller Landreaux), and Christy Romano (playing Jenna McCarty). Romano (Even Stevens, Kim Possible) is stunning in this film, and has a shower scene where she bares all. Aside from her beauty, she is a veteran actor that brings maturity to the cast, and needs to be filming more movies with even bigger parts. She has the talent to pull off the leading lady, and hopefully she will get her chance in film like she has on Broadway (where she played Belle in Beauty in the Beast). Though there are a few weak pegs – Wayne Péré and Lance E. Nichols as the two detectives, for example – the acting in Mirrors 2 is a solid effort.

The weakest factor about this movie is that it dumb downs the original story from Into the Mirror too much. It is “Americanized”, but in doing so, the soul of the original is ripped away. It becomes a supernatural murder mystery instead of a character-driven supernatural murder mystery. This difference might look small on paper, but is the difference between a good and a great film. Though Into the Mirror takes a too-slow approach to the plot, Mirrors 2 should have borrowed more of this element and made memorable characters that had real problems to overcome other than the supernatural. As great as the acting is, the two-dimensional characters are still a problem. More could have been done on this front to make Mirrors 2 even more memorable.

Mirrors 2 takes a script that chugs along from dreadfully slow pacing (Into the Mirror) and tries to overcorrect it by delivering forgettable, two-dimensional characters. The movies we remember most have good pacing, strong acting, and great character development; Mirrors 2 hits two out of three of these, and ends up as a fine movie that is absolutely recommended. With the talent behind the scenes and on-screen, more could have been done with the script, but the actors do their best to make up for it (with a few exceptions). As a remake, Mirrors 2 suffers from trying to do too much to make up for the original’s mistakes, but is still a good DTV release.

Mirrors 2 Blu-ray Disc (BD) is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio in high definition. There were no flaws with the look of the movie, and the BD is much higher quality than the DVD cut of the film. Nothing is lost in the dark scenes, and the many shades of blue used throughout the film have a subtle difference that the BD is able to differentiate. It looks great in high definition.

On the sound end of things, Mirrors 2 offers only one option; fortunately, it is a good one: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. The movie sounds great on a surround sound system. Subtitle options are in English for the deaf and hard of hearing, Spanish, and French.

DVD Version of Mirrors 2 (1:30:05 minutes): This is the same movie as the BD, but is the DVD copy of it. It has most of the same special features, excluding the pointless “Watch Mirrors 2 with the Woman in the Mirror” feature. It is presented on a flip-disc DVD, and sports English 5.1 Dolby Digital audio with a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. It looks fine, but if one has the option to watch the BD over the DVD, he or she should take advantage of that. It provides English for the deaf and hard of hearing, Spanish, and French subtitle options.

Original Korean Film Into the Mirror in Standard Definition (1:53:05): This is the inspiration for Mirrors 2, and is only available on the DVD. It has a grainy quality throughout. There are English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, and Standard English subtitles. The film is spoken in Korean, and is only worth viewing if interested in the origins of Mirrors 2. This is an excellent addition to the BD pack, even though it is only a DVD version of the film.

The Other Side: Making Mirrors 2 (9:39): Hear from the director, Victor Garcia, and the cast on the making of the film. It is interesting to hear Lawrence Turner (playing Keller Landreaux) talk about his process, and how he felt at the end of the day after playing this role. These are the best moments in special features – when the actors discuss their process – and Turner does a fine job talking about his role. Victor Garcia also goes over the difficulties of casting the character of Eleanor Reigns, a non-speaking part. This is a good special feature, and though it is short, is recommended viewing. This is available on both the BD and the DVD.

Keeping It Real: The Visual and Special Effects of Mirrors 2 (12:33): Victor Garcia was a special effects guy for seven years, and it shows with the excellent use of effects in Mirrors 2. This documentary shows how the crew handled specific death scenes in the film. Horror movies rely heavily on special effects, arguably more now than ever before. Though a lot of effects work has gone to complete CGI, it is great to see how a crew works, using real props and real (fake) blood, and so on, to give the grossest possible scene in a movie. The crew did a fantastic job with the effects, and this is another special feature worth watching. This is available on both the BD and the DVD.

Watch Mirrors 2 with the Woman in the Mirror: Not available on the DVD, only the BD, but is a waste of space anyway. Essentially, they add in a picture-in-picture to the parts in the movie where the mirrors are used, flip the original image and then add in some special effects to try to make it “scary”. It is a waste of time.

Deleted Scenes (2:08): Contains two deleted scenes. Both are in high definition, and both were rightfully cut. These are available on both the BD and the DVD.

The Mirrors 2 Blu-ray release offers up an impressive value: not only does it contain the DVD and BD of the film, but it has the complete Korean version of Into the Mirror. Most modern audiences will enjoy Mirrors 2 over Into the Mirror, but fans of the remake will be interested to see where the ideas came from, so this inclusion is excellent. Not only that, there is about 20 minutes of special features that is worth watching, and these are included on both the DVD and BD. This is a great value, and should provide one fun evening of horror (Mirrors 2), and another, slower evening filled with a character study flick (Into the Mirror). This Blu-ray release proves the DTV market is alive and well.


Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and Regency Enterprises presents Mirrors 2. Directed by: Victor Garcia. Starring: Nick Stahl, Emmanuelle Vaugiér, Stephanie Honoré Sanchez, Christy Romano, Lawrence Turner. Written by: Matt Venne. Running time: 90 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Released on DVD and Blu-ray: October 19, 2010.

Branden Chowen is, first and foremost, an actor. He is in his final year of graduate school, where he will (hopefully) soon receive an MFA in acting to compliment his BFA in the art. He spends his free time watching and reviewing movies for Inside Pulse Movies, and We Love Cult. He is also one of the co-hosts for The Drive-In, which is the official podcast of Inside Pulse Movies. He is an avid horror fan, and will spend time watching just about any horror movie that looks interesting. You can contact Branden by email at bchowen[AT]insidepulse[DOT]com, or follow him on Twitter @Psymin1.