A Horror Film for Grownups?
(A quick heads-up — no spoilers in here).
For months, I’ve been eagerly anticipating Alexandre Aja’s Mirrors, a remake of the K-horror film Into the Mirror. Not just because Aja is one of the more interesting new voices of horror out there (High Tension was a sick, twisted roller coaster up until an ill-advised late-in-the-game plot twist, and The Hills Have Eyes breathed some new life into one of Wes Craven’s lesser works). But primarily it was because it looked like this was going to be a horror movie for grownups.
First of all, this was an R-rated U.S. remake of an Asian horror film (the first ever? Correct me if I’m wrong — The Ring, The Grudge, Pulse, Dark Water, One Missed Call, Shutter, The Eye — all PG-13.) Secondly, with one secondary-character exception, there’s nary a person on-screen throughout Mirrors between the ages of 15 and 32. Take that, Gossip-Girl-crowd.
So did Aja succeed in actually making a good movie? The answer is…kinda.
While most critics have blasted the film, Mirrors definitely provides some genuine shocks and intriguing ideas. Unlike High Tension and The Hills Have Eyes, Aja and his frequent collaborator Gregory Levasseur have a tougher challenge here — dealing with a more abstract horror that you simply can’t run away from (a common theme in Asian horror, but rarely tackled in U.S. flicks).
Admittedly, it does lead to some messiness, and to say that you’ll need to suspend disbelief is an understatement. Inconsistencies abound and the uncomplicated idea behind the film doesn’t really warrant a 110-minute running time.
Still, there’s a lot of creepy stuff on display here, and with a focus on suspense over gore, it’s easy to see what drew Aja to the material, probably in an effort to show that he’s more than just a member of the splat-pack. And I’ll say this — I am happy to see the occasional horror film featuring characters my own age, with no holding back on the gore just for the sake of a PG-13 rating.
In short, it’s not the disaster most critics would have you believe, but not the must-see horror film of the year I was hoping for.
Weirdly, Alexandre Aja’s next film is yet another remake (his third in a row) — Piranha 3-D, due next year. Of course, I’ll be first in line to see it (and let’s not kid ourselves — it’s the “D” in that title that has us excited). But here’s hoping he tries out something original after that. Given the amazing terror High Tension generated, you can’t help but think that there’s a masterpiece in Aja just on the verge of breaking out. And while Piranha 3-D may very well be the guilty pleasure of 2009, I’m guessing that the words Piranha 3-D and “masterpiece” are not going to end up in the same reviews, my own included.
But feel free to prove me wrong, Aja.
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