Major spoilers perhaps present. -- A night watchman(Keifer Sutherland), once a detective who accidentally murdered an NYC cop while undercover, is taking an obscene number of drugs to kick his lingering alcohol problem stemming from the unfortunate crisis which removed him from the force. His duty is to periodically check throughout the damaged ruins of a once lavish mall overcome by fire due to a supposed nut-case who set it afire hoping to destroy the mirrors which occupied the entire establishment. What this watchman, Ben Carson, never imagined is that the "lunatic ravings" of a man, who claimed that the mirrors were responsible for the murders of his family, would actually be true! Soon the mirrors target their intentions towards Ben and his immediate family, estranged wife, Amy(Paula Patton), son and daughter Michael & Daisy(Cameron Boyce & Erica Gluck), and particularly bartender sis, Angela(Amy Smart). Like those plagued by the mirrors before him, such as the film's opening victim, the night watchman he replaced, Gary Lewis(Josh Cole), Ben will face a harrowing crisis..stopping whatever evil lies behind the mirrors hoping to uncover the secret so that he can save his family from harm. When his own attempts at destroying the mirrors fail, Ben discovers that the evil force wishes for him to find "Esseker", and so his pursuit begins.
There are some things I enjoyed in the theater from Aja's latest dud to hit theaters unwelcome(..why is Fox releasing this film in August instead of October, where a much greater opening would've at least came?). The Mayflower mall at night is really a spooky place...and a perfect "haunted house" where mirrors and horrifying cries of victims are used to supreme effect as Ben and his flashlight comb the darkness for discoveries. The idea of finding yourself completely vulnerable to the demonic forces that can kill using reflecting mirrors, and foretelling just how little room for escape there is because "mirrors are everywhere". Two gruesome deaths are presented unflinchingly..a victim's throat is sliced with the wound opening up in ghastly fashion thanks to his evil reflection(..not by his own hand which makes the kill even more outrageous)& a victim whose face is ripped apart from her mouth(..ouch!). There are creepy scenes where a reflection remains in it's stance even as a person moves away from the mirror(..nice visual effects for these sequences). But, the film's final 30 minutes or so as Ben discovers that a mental hospital was once underneath the Mayflower for psychiatric patients by a doctor using a peculiar technique with mirrors(..to free the evils plaguing those burdened with such psychological traumas as schizophrenia), and that a particular patient, perhaps possessed with demonic forces, was released from there, Aja's film treads familiar territory. And, the final climax between a certain nun discovered who might hold the key to his family being saved, as they make their way to a secret room, walled up by brick due to the Mayflower mall, and Ben's family finding themselves in a supernatural battle with the evil working through the mirrors, really tests our threshold for accepting such contrived and ludicrous situations. The screenplay does whatever is humanly possible to save Ben's family even though we know that if the evil behind the mirrors really were allowed to, they would've killed them all. And, when a certain nun agrees to help Ben, and is overcome by evil, it's the same old cop versus demonically possessed human except with explosions and toppling stone and pipes. And, as one realizes that Aja just can never resist, there's a twist at the end concerning Ben's fate which is a yawner. Aja really needs to get out of this Hollywood studio system that is raping him of the skills he might possess. And, could someone PLEASE save Amy Smart from such dreck. Man, Sutherland gives everything he has to this role and I applaud him for his efforts.
There are some things I enjoyed in the theater from Aja's latest dud to hit theaters unwelcome(..why is Fox releasing this film in August instead of October, where a much greater opening would've at least came?). The Mayflower mall at night is really a spooky place...and a perfect "haunted house" where mirrors and horrifying cries of victims are used to supreme effect as Ben and his flashlight comb the darkness for discoveries. The idea of finding yourself completely vulnerable to the demonic forces that can kill using reflecting mirrors, and foretelling just how little room for escape there is because "mirrors are everywhere". Two gruesome deaths are presented unflinchingly..a victim's throat is sliced with the wound opening up in ghastly fashion thanks to his evil reflection(..not by his own hand which makes the kill even more outrageous)& a victim whose face is ripped apart from her mouth(..ouch!). There are creepy scenes where a reflection remains in it's stance even as a person moves away from the mirror(..nice visual effects for these sequences). But, the film's final 30 minutes or so as Ben discovers that a mental hospital was once underneath the Mayflower for psychiatric patients by a doctor using a peculiar technique with mirrors(..to free the evils plaguing those burdened with such psychological traumas as schizophrenia), and that a particular patient, perhaps possessed with demonic forces, was released from there, Aja's film treads familiar territory. And, the final climax between a certain nun discovered who might hold the key to his family being saved, as they make their way to a secret room, walled up by brick due to the Mayflower mall, and Ben's family finding themselves in a supernatural battle with the evil working through the mirrors, really tests our threshold for accepting such contrived and ludicrous situations. The screenplay does whatever is humanly possible to save Ben's family even though we know that if the evil behind the mirrors really were allowed to, they would've killed them all. And, when a certain nun agrees to help Ben, and is overcome by evil, it's the same old cop versus demonically possessed human except with explosions and toppling stone and pipes. And, as one realizes that Aja just can never resist, there's a twist at the end concerning Ben's fate which is a yawner. Aja really needs to get out of this Hollywood studio system that is raping him of the skills he might possess. And, could someone PLEASE save Amy Smart from such dreck. Man, Sutherland gives everything he has to this role and I applaud him for his efforts.