Mirrors on Blu-ray Disc Review
By Rachel Cericola
The Film
Just when you thought Kiefer Sutherland had redeemed his career, he goes and makes a crapfest like
Mirrors.
Sutherland stars as a former cop who takes a job at a burned out department store that really has no need for security. However, it's only in this kind of setting where mirrors would possess the power to kill.
Let's get one thing straight: Jack Bauer kicks ass. Kiefer Sutherland, movie star? Not so much. We can't fault the
24 star for wanting to cash in during the show's lengthy off-season. However, the idea that Bauer can't put a beat down on a bunch of demons is more ludicrous than this horror flick.
The Picture
Blu-ray both helped and hindered this movie-watching process. Most of the movie is very dark, with just a little bit of grain. However, that sort of added to the ambiance. Also,
Mirrors has a lot of little textures -- water rippling, groovy wallpapers, and buckets of blood splatter. The 2.40:1 AVC-encoded image made a lot of those things really pop. Maybe I'm a party-pooper, but it also made a lot of those same effects look extremely fake. It was a sharp-looking fake, though.
The Sound
Like many horror flicks, the soundtrack can make or break the mood. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 doesn’t fail to provide some good heebie-jeebies here. The dialogue, piercing screams and creepy details in the department store are vivid. In fact, if you closed your eyes and didn't have to watch the movie, it would have been a decent experience.
The Extras
There's a few extras for anyone wanting to know what was on the other side of the mirrors -- including one "shockumentary." The only thing truly shocking is that anyone would spend 10 minutes watching any of these extras. They should have added a featurette on how they managed to make the extras seem longer and more boring than the actual movie.
Final Thoughts
Mirrors are our friends. The film version is not. Hardcore horror or Jack Bauer fans might not be able to shield their eyes from this mess. All others have been warned.
Where to Buy:
Product Details
- Actors: Kiefer Sutherland, Amy Smart, Paula Patton
- Director: Alexandre Aja
- Audio/Languages: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (English), Dolby Digital 5.1 (Spanish, French)
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean
- Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
- Region: A
- Number of Discs: 2
- Rating: R
- Studio: 20th Century Fox
- Blu-ray Disc Release Date: January 13, 2009
- Run Time: 111 minutes
- List Price: $39.99
- Extras:
- Theatrical and Unrated Versions
- Reflections: The Making of Mirrors "Shockumentary"
- Anna Esseker Hospital Footage
- Behind the Mirror
- Animated Storyboard Sequence
- Deleted Scenes and Alternate Ending with Optional Director's Commentary
- Mirror Images: Picture-in-Picture with commentary by Alexandra Aja & Gregory Levasseur, Storyboard-to-Scene Comparison
- Digital Copy
