Dark Mirror (2007): The Good, the Bad and the Reflective
Synopsis: A husband and wife, along with their young son, move into a new house that has a dark past. An old secret that lingers in the glass and mirrors of the house must be revealed before it is too late.
The Good: The story is a somewhat intriguing one, even if it is clumsily executed. The idea is that "entities" can get trapped within glass or mirrors. Okay, that's kind of a cool idea. Not completely original, but yeah... we can work with that. The additional concept added is that of the protagonist, being a fledgling photographer, inadvertently captures the entity in her camera lens when she (rather inexplicably) takes a photo of her bathroom mirror. (Not sure I ever figured out why she was taking a picture of her bathroom mirror.... high def selfie?) Despite the fact that the story dissolves from here for me, the concept is quite interesting. The woman realizes, all too late, that if she takes a photo of someone, they wind up dead. Somehow the flash releases(?) the entity and they die. A lot could have been done with this idea, but the director's script and execution burdens the movie's progress of the idea. Sadly, you are left with a good concept and nothing more.
The Bad: The movie is a slow burner, which can be good if the film is moving forward with solid character development. That, unfortunately, doesn't happen. The protagonist wife sees all the creepy stuff in the mirrors, while the husband is painted as the nauseatingly typical "it's all in your mind" horror stereotype. Even when shown things that cannot be explained and the Average Joe husband would say, "Wow, that is some abnormal junk right there", he shrugs it off and allows for the wife to become further "in this by herself". It's a tired device for allowing more of the overly used "OMG... I just saw a dark figure in the window" tricks. Used over and over in the movie for cheap "scares" that don't work, it exhausts the movie far too early and you are left caring little for the ending... you just want it to end. And it's too bad, because the ending is somewhat clever. The problem is that it takes far too long to set up the reasoning for all the happenings. See, the true story is that the house was owned by an artist who was passing his wife's paintings as his own and their deaths are the source of the evil entity. Nice little plot, however, they spend far too long on the protagonist figuring this all out that it ultimately loses any effect it may have had on the viewer. Kind of a shame. For me, this movie got bogged down by trying to do too much and even with so much to do, still found a way to be boring. That is a script issue and the reason it gets a "4" from me.
The Reflective: The word "reflective" is a bit of an oxymoron in the context of this movie, because while the film centers around reflections and windows and mirrors, the director never reflected on how boring and obtrusive his script was turning out. The tone of the whole movie just felt too much like something made for the Lifetime channel. The pacing was horrible and just when something interesting would happen, the director would slow it right back down. The problem has less to do with the idea (which should drive the movie) and more do with the direction, flow and execution of the idea. There was real promise at some point when this idea was being fleshed out, but the director ruined it by trying to turn this into something too cerebral for its own good. The result is a movie I'd obviously never watch again and in a few weeks, I will have forgotten entirely that I ever did watch it.
Synopsis: A husband and wife, along with their young son, move into a new house that has a dark past. An old secret that lingers in the glass and mirrors of the house must be revealed before it is too late.
The Good: The story is a somewhat intriguing one, even if it is clumsily executed. The idea is that "entities" can get trapped within glass or mirrors. Okay, that's kind of a cool idea. Not completely original, but yeah... we can work with that. The additional concept added is that of the protagonist, being a fledgling photographer, inadvertently captures the entity in her camera lens when she (rather inexplicably) takes a photo of her bathroom mirror. (Not sure I ever figured out why she was taking a picture of her bathroom mirror.... high def selfie?) Despite the fact that the story dissolves from here for me, the concept is quite interesting. The woman realizes, all too late, that if she takes a photo of someone, they wind up dead. Somehow the flash releases(?) the entity and they die. A lot could have been done with this idea, but the director's script and execution burdens the movie's progress of the idea. Sadly, you are left with a good concept and nothing more.
The Bad: The movie is a slow burner, which can be good if the film is moving forward with solid character development. That, unfortunately, doesn't happen. The protagonist wife sees all the creepy stuff in the mirrors, while the husband is painted as the nauseatingly typical "it's all in your mind" horror stereotype. Even when shown things that cannot be explained and the Average Joe husband would say, "Wow, that is some abnormal junk right there", he shrugs it off and allows for the wife to become further "in this by herself". It's a tired device for allowing more of the overly used "OMG... I just saw a dark figure in the window" tricks. Used over and over in the movie for cheap "scares" that don't work, it exhausts the movie far too early and you are left caring little for the ending... you just want it to end. And it's too bad, because the ending is somewhat clever. The problem is that it takes far too long to set up the reasoning for all the happenings. See, the true story is that the house was owned by an artist who was passing his wife's paintings as his own and their deaths are the source of the evil entity. Nice little plot, however, they spend far too long on the protagonist figuring this all out that it ultimately loses any effect it may have had on the viewer. Kind of a shame. For me, this movie got bogged down by trying to do too much and even with so much to do, still found a way to be boring. That is a script issue and the reason it gets a "4" from me.
The Reflective: The word "reflective" is a bit of an oxymoron in the context of this movie, because while the film centers around reflections and windows and mirrors, the director never reflected on how boring and obtrusive his script was turning out. The tone of the whole movie just felt too much like something made for the Lifetime channel. The pacing was horrible and just when something interesting would happen, the director would slow it right back down. The problem has less to do with the idea (which should drive the movie) and more do with the direction, flow and execution of the idea. There was real promise at some point when this idea was being fleshed out, but the director ruined it by trying to turn this into something too cerebral for its own good. The result is a movie I'd obviously never watch again and in a few weeks, I will have forgotten entirely that I ever did watch it.