Movies
Mirrors 2 (V)
“I’m at a loss in coming up with anything positive to say about Mirrors 2. It’s as bad as you think it is…”
The direct-to-video sequel is a force to be reckoned with, considering they take up a pretty hefty portion of any local rental shack’s wall space. There’s a special portion of those that I’d label “Sequels nobody ever asked for,” and considering that, I guess it should really come to no one’s surprise that someone thought Mirrors 2 was an idea worth capitalizing on. In the grand scheme of things, the original Mirrors was not exactly a complete failure, raking in $77 million worldwide, but aside for a few cool gore scenes, it’s hated by almost everyone and really, this sequel isn’t going to sway anyone one way or the other in respect to the franchise.
Unlike its predecessor, Mirrors 2 is surprisingly simple and easy to follow. After his girlfriend dies in a car crash, Max (Nick Stahl) is all torn up and understandably depressed. His father (William Katt) offers him a job at the Mayflower department store as a security guard – to give his life a purpose, I guess – and on his first night, he’s visited by a female specter trapped in the store’s mirrors. People start dying shortly thereafter, and it’s up to him and Elizabeth (Emmanuelle Vaugier) – the sister of a former employee who went missing – to sort things out.
I’ve probably said too much already, but it’s kind of hard not to figure out what’s going on after the first act. The plot is thin and cookie-cutter, and it plays out like a Lifetime movie with gore – I half-expected an anti-drug and rape advisory to pop up at the film’s conclusion. The kill scenes, one of the two saving graces of the original (the other being Keifer Sutherland going all Jack Bauer on a nun), are cheap and repetitive here. Each victim looks in the mirror, sees the double kill itself, and that’s that. In all honesty, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone told me the film was written without Mirrors in mind, and then they just cobbled stuff together to have name recognition. Aside from taking place in a Mayflower store – now in New Orleans instead of New York – and having a malevolent force in the mirrors, the mythology really has nothing to do with the Aja’s film.
The acting is dire across the board, including Stahl giving an unsurprisingly wooden performance. William Katt is entertaining in a bad sort of way, no doubt helped by his pony-tailed pimp wig – as bad as any Nic Cage hairpiece. If that doesn’t do it for you, try humming the Greatest American Hero theme during his cold-pizza scene; it makes it THAT much better.
I’m at a loss in coming up with anything positive to say about Mirrors 2. It’s as bad as you think it is, and about as forgettable as Victor Garcia’s last DTV sequel, Return To House On Haunted Hill – sadly, you don’t get to play choose-your-own adventure this time around. Since I’m grasping at straws, I’ll just say that if you have an Even Stevens fetish and always wondered what Christy Carlson Romano looked like naked, your curiosity will be satisfied.
This week kicked off with the release of hippo horror movie Hungry at home, and four more horror movies have arrived for at-home viewing as we head into the final weekend of June.
Here are the new horror movies that released on Friday, June 26, 2026!
The Halloween season can no longer be contained to the months of September and October, with “Summerween” becoming a thing in recent years. Essentially, it allows for Halloween to bleed into the warmer Summer months, and the first ever Summerween movie has arrived.
The Asylum released Summerween onto Digital outlets today.
In the film from writer/director Ryan Ebert, “On Summerween, a former circus clown escapes a mental institution to return to his abandoned mansion and hunt the teens partying there.”
Cole Chapleski, Chase Breithoff, Logan Roe, Sophia Sabol, and Clint Morrison star.
Director Ryan Ebert is the man behind a string of recent indie horrors we’ve covered, including Shark Side of the Moon, The Jolly Monkey, Jurassic Reborn, and Predator: Wastelands.
A witchy coming-of-age story from Dark Sky Films, Camp is now playing in select theaters.
Check your local listings to find a theater near you.
Camp is from writer-director Avalon Fast (Honeycomb, The Serpent’s Skin).
“Emily is the root cause of two devastating tragedies very early in her life, and she feels the weight of these accidents as though cursed. At her father’s suggestion, she takes a position at a summer camp for troubled youth to ease her guilt. When Emily arrives, she is welcomed by the other counselors, who accept her as she is and surround her with peace and forgiveness.
“As Emily begins to believe in a new kind of life, she starts to hear a voice whispering from deep in the woods — one that urges her to go home, and one that may be impossible to ignore.”
The film stars Zola Grimmer in her screen debut alongside Alice Wordsworth, Cherry Moore, Lea Rose Sebastianis (Castration Movie Part 1 & 2, In A Violent Nature), Ella Reece, Austyn Van de Kamp (This Too Shall Pass), Sophie Bawks-Smith (Honeycomb), Izza Jarvis, and Aiden Laudersmith.
Producers Tyler Perry and Jason Blum have joined forces for Peacock Original Strung.
The film is now streaming only on Peacock.
“A talented violinist takes a prestigious job as a music tutor for the gifted daughter of an influential and enigmatic family. As she becomes entangled in their opulent world, unsettling secrets begin to surface, forcing her to question her safety, her dreams, and even her sanity.”
Malcolm D. Lee (Scary Movie 5, Space Jam: A New Legacy) directs from a script written by Alan B. McElroy (Wrong Turn, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers).
Chloe Bailey (“Swarm“), Lynn Whitfield (Jaws: The Revenge), Lucien Laviscount (“Scream Queens”), Anna Diop (Us), Coco Jones (Vampires vs. the Bronx), Langley Kirkwood (“Banshee”), and Romy Woods star in Peacock’s Strung.
Produced by Diablo Cody, director Meredith Alloway’s Forbidden Fruits brought a new coven of witches to the big screen earlier this year, and it’s now streaming on Shudder.
Lola Tung (“The Summer I Turned Pretty”), Victoria Pedretti (“The Haunting of Hill House”), Alexandra Shipp (Tragedy Girls), Gabrielle Union (Breaking In), and Emma Chamberlain star in Forbidden Fruits, released by IFC and Shudder.
Free Eden employee Apple secretly runs a witchy femme cult in the basement of the mall store after hours. But when new hire Pumpkin challenges the group’s ‘girl boss’ ways, the women are forced to face their own poisons or succumb to a bloody fate.
“Forbidden Fruits grabbed me by the neck the very first time I read it,” Diablo Cody said. “It’s one of the craziest, most creative, beautifully bonkers projects I’ve ever worked on.”
Meagan Navarro writes in her review for Bloody Disgusting, “Forbidden Fruits may not necessarily forge new terrain in the teen satire space, but Alloway brings so much style and energy to her well-cast single-location stage play adaptation for the Gen Z crowd.”
The film is an adaptation of playwright Lily Houghton’s stage play Of the Women Came the Beginning of Sin and Through Her We All Die. Alloway and Houghton co-adapted.
This week’s new release roundups are presented by HUNGRY.
All aboard the swamp tour from hell – this hippo isn’t playing games…
HUNGRY is now available on Digital. Watch it now!
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