This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
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Plot Overview
Gary Lewis (Josh Cole) pushing 30 is night watchman at the derelict Mayflower Building on 6th Avenue, New York City. It's so boring a job he augments it by polishing the department store mirrors. Something in one of them spooks him and he takes off running, ending up in a subway locker room in Harlem where a mirror's image does a bloody number on him, along the lines of an Alfred Elwes novel: “She is a demonico, and would no more hesitate to put a knife into the Signorina than she would to stick a sheep” (234).
Lewis's replacement is Ben Carson (Kiefer
Sutherland) a suspended NYC
detective waiting to be reinstated but needing something in the
meantime. The mirror reflects the fire that gutted the building,
and Ben recounts the experience to his “little sister”
Angela (Amy Smart) while she's tending bar in Queens. Her own place
is full of houseplants and she bathes right after work to remove the
stench of the job, so it's no wonder she shudders at Ben's description
of feeling the heat and breathing the fumes. She advises him to get
a different job. There's a mirror behind the bar. That night after
work her bathroom mirror image distends her jaw and drowns
her in the tub. It's retribution for having a big mouth. The mirror
entity wants to keep Ben.
Ben confronts the mirror to learn that
it really wants someone named Esseker. Being an investigator
he discovers there was a 12-year-old patient at St. Matthews Hospital, name of Anna Esseker
(Adina Rapiteanu), who got misplaced after the
hospital—occupying the site of the Mayflower—was
closed in 1952. He tracks her to St. Augustine's Monastery in
Pennsylvania—where mirrors are forbidden—and drives there
to interview her. We hear the monastery bells toll as he drives
up being an echo of the tinkling bells at the start of the movie;
they signify a new chapter.
Ideology
Flashbacks of Anna's fits have me thinking she was demon possessed, but what do I know? Her grandfather Robert Esseker (Julian Glover) has it that, “every priest, doctor, healer came in from all over, but none could help her.” One a Dr. Kane diagnosed her as schizophrenic having “the false perception of … two distinct worlds. The real world, and the world inside a mirror.” She was treated in a mirror room in St. Matthews. Now years later sister Esseker (Mary Beth Peil) tells Carson, “Dr. Kane was wrong about his theory. There is no cure for schizophrenia, Mr. Carson. It was something else.”
For its penchant for burning, slashing,
and drowning, it's at least comparable to: (Matt. 17:14-17) “And when they
were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling
down to him, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick,
and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into
the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not
cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse
generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer
you? bring him hither to me.”
They needed the big gun to take care
of this one. (Matt. 17:18-20) “And
Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child
was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart,
and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them,
Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith
as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove
hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be
impossible unto you.”
(Matt. 17:21)
“Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”
Anna concedes, “I'm going to pray for you.” Having spent
fifty-six years of self-denial (fasting) and prayer in the monastery,
she confidently enters the demon's lair and prays the rosary with
her eyes closed. Ben had started on Sixth Avenue, outpacing the fast
walking New Yorkers on his way to work, but when the dust settles
we see him lurching through a Village Potempkin, dazed, dead, or undead,
depending on which ending you opt for.
Production Values
“” (2008) was co-written and directed by Alexandre Aja, being a remake of the South Korean supernatural horror movie, “Into the Mirror.” Its credited writers are Alexandre Aja, Grégory Levasseur and Sung-ho Kim. It stars Kiefer Sutherland, Paula Patton and Amy Smart. Sutherland was overacting. The rest of the acting was good except for one bit part with the best line (“That's seven years bad luck.”)
MPAA rated it R for strong violence, disturbing images, language and brief nudity. The fires looked phony, but otherwise the special effects were top notch. The split camera images were dizzying. The sound track was orchestral. The film was gory and the extended cut gorier. Runtime is 1 hour 51 minutes.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
The plot was biblically demonic and the heroine a praying nun. The lead was a sympathetic character going through a rough patch. New York was an appealing city despite everything. The horror was not overplayed despite the oriental origins of the original. I consider it a satisfying horror movie, but tastes may vary.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Decent action scenes. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Amazing special effects. Video Occasion: Made for late night viewing. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Elwes, Alfred. Perils Afloat and Brigands Ashore. London: Cassell & Company, Limited, 1886. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org