IMDb RATING
6.4/10
3.7K
YOUR RATING
An ex-cop, now working as a security guard in a shopping mall, tries to uncover the secret behind a series of mysterious deaths linked to mirrors.An ex-cop, now working as a security guard in a shopping mall, tries to uncover the secret behind a series of mysterious deaths linked to mirrors.An ex-cop, now working as a security guard in a shopping mall, tries to uncover the secret behind a series of mysterious deaths linked to mirrors.
- Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination total
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
INTO THE MIRROR is an intriguing mix of police procedural and supernatural horror, an unwieldy but effective combination that proved successful enough for Hollywood to attempt a remake (the Kiefer Sutherland-starrer MIRRORS, which upped the gore but lost something in translation in the process). The film's setting is a once-deserted shopping mall, always a choice location for the movies and one that doesn't disappoint here; in places it drips with an eerie, provocative atmosphere.
What I liked most about this movie was the mixing of genres. On one hand there's a serial killer aspect to the murders, which are inventive without being gruesome. Then there's the supernatural touch, which is handled subtly and effectively, particularly in that great twist ending. Finally, there's the police procedural side which dominates most of the running time, and that's interesting too because the cops are humanised.
Ji-tae Yu's former detective Woo, now working as chief of security at the mall, is by far the most interesting of the characters. Although he's saddled with one of those all-too-familiar back stories involving him making a fatal error, the script works well to make him sympathetic and an intriguingly balanced lead. Myung-min Kim's officious detective is well placed as Woo's antagonist and the story that develops is never less than enthralling. A good little movie, this one.
What I liked most about this movie was the mixing of genres. On one hand there's a serial killer aspect to the murders, which are inventive without being gruesome. Then there's the supernatural touch, which is handled subtly and effectively, particularly in that great twist ending. Finally, there's the police procedural side which dominates most of the running time, and that's interesting too because the cops are humanised.
Ji-tae Yu's former detective Woo, now working as chief of security at the mall, is by far the most interesting of the characters. Although he's saddled with one of those all-too-familiar back stories involving him making a fatal error, the script works well to make him sympathetic and an intriguingly balanced lead. Myung-min Kim's officious detective is well placed as Woo's antagonist and the story that develops is never less than enthralling. A good little movie, this one.
Parts of this horror movie are absolutely brilliant. The opening scene, with the doomed girl standing in front of a mirror, is a real stunner! And for the first half hour things move along quite effectively. We get some amazing visuals, mostly concerning mirrors, and good suspense too. Then, after that half hour mark, we get some truly boring dialog scenes and a lot of quarreling between our hero (who, according to me, seems to be a nice guy but a complete bore!) and an ex-colleague of his (he used to be a police but resigned after a shooting accident). Things pick up later in the movie, but the ending is a little bit of a let-down, because the build-up had so far been (mostly) very effective. But it is a nice idea for a horror story and well directed! Give it a try and I think you'll like it! :-)
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.
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.
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.
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.
Did you know
- TriviaIs included in the Blu-ray of Mirrors 2 (2010) as a bonus disc.
- GoofsNear the beginning of the movie, a woman dies when a cut appears on her neck. The cut bisected the jugular vein, therefore the bleeding should have been far more severe than depicted.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Midnight Movie Review: Mirrors 2 (2010)
- How long is Into the Mirror?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $3,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $70,277
- Runtime
- 1h 53m(113 min)
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content