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[Review] ‘The Mirror’ Is a Mundane Micro-Horror Bore
Last February, an allegedly haunted mirror sold on eBay for $155. The sellers claimed that the mirror hung in their London flat for five months and during that time, they suffered terrible misfortunes and witnessed supernatural activity like flickering shadows reflected in its surface. One owner claims he woke up with red scratches on his midsection. That was the final straw and the duo put the bastard mirror up for sale on eBay, fully disclosing the experience they’ve had with it.
Edward Boase’s The Mirror is apparently inspired by this story. In the film, three London flatmates purchase an antique mirror on eBay and set up 24-hour cameras to capture whatever may go down. They’re doing so in hopes of winning a prove-ghosts-are-real contest with a hefty cash prize being offered by the James Randi Foundation (a real life magician and sceptic who has fiercely challenged paranormal claims throughout his career).
Despite some solid performances from the three leads (Jemma Dallender, Joshua Dickinson, and Nate Fallows) The Mirror is as mundane as found footage can get. There are SO many found footage flicks nowadays that the envelope really needs to be pushed to stand out amongst the dung heap (Open Windows and Exists are two recent examples). The Mirror brings nothing new to the table and even manages to snake some beats from more successful entries like Paranormal Activity. The film actually starts out pretty hopeful, with a sense of unease from the start, but this quickly dissolves into a tedious story where it feels like nothing happens for painfully long stretches.
Much of the film’s 80-minute running time is consumed by the three flatmates bitching one another out. Their dynamic is boring: one wants to believe in ghosts, one doesn’t, the girl whines and cries a lot. It’s deep characterization, man. There are some moments of decent gore, but for some reason they chose to spoil the goriest moment on the movie poster. There’s also an attempt at providing the mirror with some mythological backstory, which would’ve been interesting if it was explored further. When the crux of the film is a haunted object, I wanna know more about its history, dammit! Take The Possession for example. It wasn’t the greatest horror film, but at least it was interesting thanks to all the backstory surrounding the Dybbuk box. I would’ve loved to see more of that detective work in The Mirror. Instead Boase on flirts with its history.
The Mirror is available now on various VOD outlets.
Scream Factory brought Frank LaLoggia’s 1988 Halloween movie Lady in White to Blu-ray several years back, and now Vinegar Syndrome gives the film a 4K Ultra HD upgrade.
Vinegar Syndrome’s Lady in White 4K release is available now and shipping now!
Watch the trailer below and grab your copy from Vinegar Syndrome today.
This limited edition 4-disc 4K UHD/Blu-ray x 3 set comes with a spot gloss hard slipcase + slipcover combo (designed by Dylan Haley), includes a 40-page perfect bound book and is limited to 8,000 units. It is only available on their website and at select indie retailers.
The full Special Features package includes…
- 4-disc Set: 1x 4K Ultra HD (High Bitrate BD100) / 3x Region A Blu-ray
- 4K UHD presented in Dolby Vision High-Dynamic-Range
- Newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative
- Presented in three versions: 126-min Pre-Release Director’s Cut (UHD+BD), the 118-min Extended Home Video Cut (BD), and the 113-min Theatrical Cut (BD)
- New group commentary track with writer/director Frank LaLoggia, alongside actors Lukas Haas, Joelle Jacobi, and Len Cariou for the Pre-Release Director’s Cut
- New commentary track with Frank LaLoggia, moderated by Scott Neumyer for the Extended Home Video Cut
- New commentary track with authors Emma Westwood and Stephen A. Russell for the Extended Home Video Cut
- Archival commentary track with Frank LaLoggia for the Extended Home Video Cut
- “Learning How to Fly” (10 min) – an interview with actress Karen Powell
- “A Snapshot in Time” (9 min) – an interview with actress Lisa Taylor
- “Human Touches” (6 min) – an interview with actress Lucy Lee Flippin
- “Still Relevant” (16 min) – an interview with actress Rose Weaver
- “75% Listening, 25% Editing” (9 min) – an interview with editor Steve Mann
- “Welcome to Willowpoint Falls” (6 min) – a location featurette hosted by Benjamin Scrivens, founder of Fright-Rags
- “Dream Talking: Looking Back” – a visual group commentary for the Pre-Release Director’s Cut with Frank LaLoggia, and actors Lukas Haas, Joelle Jacobi, and Len Cariou (103 min)
- Deleted Scenes with introduction and optional commentary by writer/director Frank LaLoggia (36 min)
- Behind-the-scenes footage with introduction and optional commentary by writer/director Frank LaLoggia (16 min)
- Extended behind-the-scenes footage (73 min)
- Introduction from the 20th anniversary dvd release
- Promotional ‘industry sales’ trailer (7 min)
- 40-page perfect bound book with essays by film historians Molly Henery, Mark H. Harris, and Heidi Honeycutt (limited edition only)
- Multiple radio spots
- Theatrical trailer
- Multiple TV spots
- Workprint trailers (7 min)
- Still gallery
- Reversible sleeve artwork
- English SDH subtitles
1962. Nine-year-old Frankie Scarlatti enjoys a homespun childhood in a rustic Western New York town. The entire community gets into the spirit of Halloween, but then two bullies prank Frankie by locking him in his school cloakroom, leaving him trapped for the night. Alone and afraid, his slumber is interrupted when the ghost of a little girl appears, and Frankie witnesses the specter of her murder by an unseen assailant. Later, while recovering at home, the girl’s ghost appears to him again. With help from his older brother, Frankie begins investigating the circumstances of her death. He soon discovers that her murder was one of several unsolved crimes connected to a local child-killer. As the town’s bucolic veneer fades and long-buried secrets and tensions bubble to the surface, all of the clues to the mystery seem to point towards a huge mansion inhabited by a reclusive woman known as “The Lady in White.”
A nostalgia-driven ghost story wrapped within an intricate murder mystery and coming-of-age drama, writer-director-composer Frank LaLoggia’s passion project Lady in White remains one of the most beautiful and original American horror films of the 1980s. Featuring acclaimed actors Alex Rocco (The Godfather), Len Cariou (Executive Decision), and Sydney Lassick (Carrie, The Unseen), it boasts the first starring role by Lukas Haas (Mars Attacks, Inception) as well as breathtaking photography by Academy Award® winner Russell Carpenter (True Lies, The Lawnmower Man). Vinegar Syndrome is honored to bring this genre masterpiece to 4K UHD, newly restored from its original 35mm camera negative and presented in three versions: its pre-release director’s cut, its extended home-video version, and its original theatrical version, along with an abundance of both new and archival extras.
Paul Lê wrote here on Bloody Disgusting back in 2023, “Over the years, fans have described this film as gateway horror, but they liken it more to The Watcher in the Woods than, say, Hocus Pocus or Casper. There are chilling moments that warrant its PG-13 rating.”
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