The Mirror

Okay!!! Amazon says this is a 'movie you might like' so here we go....

So some wannabe film contest winners order this mirror off of Ebay. They are hoping for some sort of paranormal experience.

The first night Matt starts sleepwalking and acting weird.

And he gets weirder....

-1 Star for the girl who still goes to bed with the wierdo after he's obviously off his coconut.....

-1 Star For Matt not coming out of the room when Steve shouted 'Hey Matt! Jemmas dancing with her boobs out!!!!'

That should have been a huge red flag right there to stop and call the mental police.

+1 Star For Matt getting a little bit more uppity toward the end!!!

Okay I thought the end was kinda predictable and boring and really didn't showcase 'The Mirror' . Of course maybe that's just me!!! :)

4/10

Since 1996, former magician turned professional sceptic James Randi has been offering a million dollars to anyone that can provide proof that psychic and/or supernatural phenomena exist. 'The Mirror' sees three English flatmates, Matt, Steve, and Jemma, attempt the challenge by buying a haunted mirror over the internet and continuously filming what happens. At first, the whole thing is played for a lark…even getting a Ouija board in on the action, but when Matt starts acting strangely the whole thing takes on a darker edge.

Now…I know what you're thinking: found footage? Seen it all before. Sure, the set-up of the film seems to defy the need to be original to an almost belligerent degree in the wake of the likes of 'V/H/S' (2012), the whole 'Paranormal Activity' series and its host of rip-offs, going all the way back to 'The Blair Witch Project' (1999). What's more the idea of a haunted mirror was done the year before in the bigger budget American production 'Oculus'. However, despite sitting down thinking I'd be turning it off after twenty minutes I found myself immediately drawn in by the playful banter of the three flatmates and the subtle shifts into increasingly eerie territory as we wonder what is behind Matt's increasingly erratic behaviour.

A big difference between this and the 'Paranormal Activity' series is that while that series relied on a quiet-quiet-quiet-BANG idea to win cheap scares, 'The Mirror' just sticks with quiet-quiet-quiet which doesn't release the tension and instead maintains it right to the end. Sure there are a few plot-holes, for example why don't they call the police after they are broken into, why don't they investigate the mirror or send any emails to the seller, and what's with the eye thing…however I was able to easily forgive these because the chilling atmosphere was one I hadn't felt from a horror movie for a long time.

A decent movie which, despite resolutely not adding anything new to the genre, nevertheless does what it was designed to do very well. Give it a go.

This isn't the greatest movie ever made, but it's far better than the ratings it's getting here. I like the first person/found footage style movies. I like the creepy paranormal stuff. At least there was some originality with this one. I wasn't able to guess the ending, and that's another plus. It held my interest, had some good tension, and believable acting. Right now, it's sitting at a 4.7 and that's too low. I'm giving it a 6 because that's what I feel it deserves, but I was very tempted to go higher just because people are hating on this movie for no reason. For what it is, it's not bad at all. Definitely worth a watch in my opinion.

For a movie that is just making it up as it goes along (corner points were given to the actors, as in beginning of the scene and end of the scene, do as you please in between), this is not half bad. Even if you didn't know that, you will realize that the actors are making stuff up as they go (coherent and continuity be damned).

Which is a shame because things are there that could've been explored more and just looking good (especially the female lead), is not enough to keep you hooked for a long time. So our comic relief does a good job and he has quite a lot of jokes that almost make this a way better movie than it actually is. Unfortunately that thing, about this not making sense, characters behaving, like they are in a mental institution, where they lost their brain and other things like that, will kind of take the fun out of it ... literally.

All this is based on a true story. Yes really! Actually the two guys (no girl in that story, at least not one that was alive) who owned the real mirror of the story were at a screening at Frightfest and told us a few stories. You can either believe those guys or not. They sold the mirror on ebay to someone in Germany and the director found out about this and thought: Hey why don't I make a movie about this? Well guess what? He did! I know! Shocking. Almost more so than the movie itself! Which again, is only really "saved" (not literally), by the jokes of one of the characters ..

When I came across The Mirror everything I saw and read about it was the epitome of hatred and dislike. Everybody slated the film left right and centre and this peeked my curiosity. I gave it a chance and found it immediately was fighting an uphill battle as it is in fact a found footage film. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with found footage films, my problem is that there are just so damn many lately........and most of them are terrible.The whole style of movie has enabled film makers with no money or experience to make a movie and it immediately puts it in a bad light for me.I don't even like the "Critically Acclaimed" Paranormal Activity series! Anyway within 5 minutes I was finding myself quite enamored with the film. Primarily because of the likable characters and the really quite good performances by the three young actors.

It quickly became apparent that this movie was not going to break any new ground and would be a fairly standard predictable affair but the actors made these 90 minutes and limited script quite enjoyable.

Now without giving anything away the movie does something quite unique. For the last 20 minutes I was finding myself almost wincing as I knew that something was coming, most likely a big jump scare. It kept me waiting in anticipation, it teased......and I liked it.

Comparing this to the likes of the Occulus is foolish, you cannot compare a mega budget Hollywood blockbuster to a low budget indie film on the same scale. Take each movie for what it is and this really entertained me. Don't compare, don't put emphasis on its budget or unknown actors, just turn out the light and give this a chance and you may be surprised.

If you want big budget, if you want big cgi and constant action then you won't enjoy this. If you want a well constructed, well acted and interestingly paced horror then give it a try.

You like me may be surprised.

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