THE MIRROR – found footage review

You know me by now. I love found footage. It’s a fascinating subgenre that embraces everything from big budget studio fare to movies made by friends on a weekend. It’s a type of movie that allows you to make the scariest movies seen if you have the right idea and the passion. 

That’s pretty cool. 

I have seen a LOT of bad found footage but among them are some good, memorable ones too. 

In watching these movies though I do have some expectations, or rules, if you will. 

–    No score – it’s supposedly ‘found’ so why would it be scored? Right?

–  Don’t break the spell – if you switch from found footage to a traditional style you kill the vibe and I’ll insist you take a kick to the crotch. 

–   Be true to your story. Whatever it is, follow it through. 

–   Don’t jerk the audience around. Make a movie, not three quarters of a movie with a non-ending. 

There you go. 

Not too crazy. 

Not too demanding. 

Ghouls just want to have fun. 

Saying all that…welcome to THE MIRROR, a film about friends taking on a paranormal challenge. 

Let’s dig in. 

THE MIRROR finds three friends who have decided to take on the James Randy challenge – find definitive proof of the paranormal and win one million dollars. The trio purchase a purportedly haunted mirror and set up cameras around an apartment with the plans to film it and anything that happens around it. On closer inspection there’s no reason to believe that the mirror is anything but ordinary but they push forward anyway. It doesn’t take long for one of their group to start to sleepwalk and display strange behavior. As that person begins to isolate themselves from the other two and starts to get more suspicious the question is raised as to whether it’s the mirror doing it or something wrong with the person. They may just find that the cost of this challenge is greater than the reward. 

THE MIRROR is a very drama heavy paranormal romp with more questions than answers. While things ramp up and there are some scenes of terror this is more about the fear of what is happening to the friend who is exhibiting strange behavior than it is about ghosts and ghouls. There are jump scares, there is some blood, and there is definite gruesomeness. The acting is well done and the actors do a good job of making their friendship seem real. The writing gets dodgy and the story, while interesting, doesn’t live up to the concept. We are left with far too many big questions and too few resolutions. 

This is another example of a great initial idea that just doesn’t really get a full treatment. Questions are not bad but there’s a balance where you can’t just leave out why things are happening or what it all means. I adore BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and that ending is a HUGE question mark but you’ve gotten so much information otherwise that you can infer what happened or at least know enough to make up your own conclusion. THE MIRROR doesn’t give you that, they don’t bother to tell you WHY the mirror may be haunted or what might be haunting it. What happens with the characters is never explained, we are just supposed to be happy that it’s creepy. 

This is well made with a little shaky cam towards the end. The biggest issue here is the unanswered WHY of it all and that really kills what is an otherwise enjoyable film. The ending is another non-ending we find a lot of in these films but it’s not as disconcerting as some I have seen. 

But is it worth a look. 

I found it on Tubi so for a free watch, it’s not bad. It’s frustrating and the conflict among the friends get a little old but it’s interesting, has some creeps, and is worth a look for hardcore fans. 

2 out of 5