Into the Mirror

The main plot of Into the Mirror concerns some spooky deaths (concerning mirrors) that delay the re-opening of a large department store. The supernatural elements, of ghost-characters that seem to exist the other side of the mirror (and can sometimes reach through to the real world) are played well, but the plot holes in the real and surreal story lines become wearying and detract from the ingenious psychological twists. It has a deft storyline, and all the promise of a modern supernatural-psychological horror, but the hallmarks of inadequately developed Asian cinema and frailty in details. Will probably get re-made at some point with a Western-friendly makeover - and without the subtitles many viewers would probably be more forgiving of such better-than-mediocre but hardly outstanding horror stories.

South Korean horror/thriller that was the basis for Kiefer Sutherland's 2008 movie Mirrors. I can see how they split the plot and spread it over Mirrors and its sequel, Mirrors 2. This version is slower than the remake, and has very little blood and gore. What it does have is a heightened eeriness throughout. We get reflections out of sync with their physical counterparts, shadowy figures half-glimpsed in backgrounds, and a sense of things being just slightly 'off'. Whilst the US Mirrors is unashamedly a horror film, this is more of a crime thriller/police procedural, with some supernatural elements. The camerawork is great (not least for how they manage to keep the crew from being caught in the reflections!). It's well directed and the cast are good. And it has a nice score. Although (unusually for me) I actually prefer the US remake, this is definitely worth a watch. 7/10.

After the accidental death of his partner Young-ho in a hostage situation, the former detective of the Seoul Special Operations Force Woo Young-min (Ji-tae Yu) feels responsible for the tragedy and quit the police force joining the private security company SecuZone. His uncle and owner of the department store Dreampia, Jeon-il Sung (Ju-bong Gi), hires Woo to be the chief of the security of Dreampia, which was rebuilt after a fire where many employees died and is near the reopening in spite of the protest of the families of the victims that claim their indemnity. When an employee dies after hours in the store, Woo leads an internal investigation, while detective Ha Hyun-Su (Myeong-mim Kim) that blames Woo for the death of his friend Young-ho, and his assistant Park, come to the store to lead an official investigation. When other employees that worked in the same department are mysteriously killed in the store, Woo meets Lee Ji-hyun (Hye-na Kim), the twin sister of Lee Jeong-hyun, that convinces him that her sister has not died in the fire and is trapped in the mirrors, while Ha Hyun-Su believes that Lee Ji-hyun is the serial killer.

"Geoul Sokeuro" is another great South Korean horror movie. With a complex screenplay that discloses an intricate and intriguing supernatural plot, this film is supported by great direction and acting and excellent camera work, using mirrors in many unexpected scenes. The horror is not gore but psychological, and there is an important and complex explanation about the "mirror-world" that is basic to understand the end of the story. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Espelho" ("Mirror")

OK, I was a bit evil myself to put a comment titled like that, and the film was a good one. The problem with it is that is not really scary. It's a nice thriller and , as some other viewers have noticed, has a nice pace in the first half, but then gets sluggish. The lead actor doesn't show a lot of emotion in his acting and that also sets the feeling of the movie to a lower level. The ending is really unrealistic to the extreme (for a ghost movie, that is :) )

But the idea is nice. Another world may lie beyond a mirror and things that happened there might not mimic exactly what s happening here. Parts of people might get trapped in mirrors or exact revenge coming from there. Anything else, though, is pretty confusing. I am not Asian so a lot of the names in the movie sounded alike. Add to this that the dead girl had a twin sister and there were mirrors everywhere and you can understand why I felt confused.

As Asian horror movies go, I would rather see a cliché "bad hair wet ghost with spooky eyes" than this kind of thriller, but this film definitely has some good and original parts in it.

This film was based on a psychological analysis for mirror and patients who suffered severe shocks. The movie doesn't really have a ghost or a bloody scene, however, the flimmaker intentionally puts mirror into the film many times, the fear and thrill flows underneath the screen.

The film starts with a department store in South Korea, the department store caught fire and one woman was killed. Few years later the department store was opened again and those people who hold secrets of the department store and the dead woman began to be killed.

To tell the truth, the film was great and I recommend you all to see this!!