History Film / Mirrors2008

''Mirrors'' is a 2008 supernatural horror film directed by Creator/AlexandreAja, and stars Creator/KieferSutherland. The film was first titled ''Into the Mirror'', but the name was later changed to ''Mirrors''. Filming began on May 1, 2007, and it was released in American theaters on August 15, 2008.

The film was originally scripted as a straightforward remake of the 2003 South Korean horror film ''Into the Mirror'', which is rated PG. However, once Aja was brought on board and read the script, he was dissatisfied with the particulars of the original film's story. He decided to retain the original film's basic idea involving mirrors, and to incorporate a few of its scenes, but otherwise crafted a new story and script for his version of the movie. ''Mirrors'' is the first Aja film to achieve an R rating without the need for scenes to be cut.

''Mirrors'' is a 2008 horror film directed by Creator/AlexandreAja, and stars Creator/KieferSutherland. The film was first titled ''Into the Mirror'', but the name was later changed to ''Mirrors''. Filming began on May 1, 2007, and it was released in American theaters on August 15, 2008.

A direct-to-DVD sequel was released in 2010, apparently unrelated to the events of the first one. When Max, who is recovering from a traumatic accident, takes a job as a nighttime security guard, he begins to see visions of a young mysterious woman in the store's mirror.

The 1979 album by the Music/BlueOysterCult, called ''Music/{{Mirrors}}'', is an entirely different thing even though some peculiarities of TV Tropes' formatting appear to have linked the two.

* RapeAsBackstory
** RapeAndRevenge

** The iconic image from the page photo, as the true meaning of a handprint on the ''inside'' of a mirror sinks in...

* GoryDiscretionShot / SoundOnlyDeath: Whatever Eleanor does to her killer once she gets her hands on him, it's apparently so ghastly that all we're allowed to see are blood splatters on the the other side of the mirror accompanied by his blood-curdling screams. The mirror shatters soon after.

[[quoteright:240:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Mirrors_2672.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:240:Ben learns the (first) secret of the mirrors.]]

* DaylightHorror:
** While most of the movie's plot, and especially its scariest scenes, takes place at night, the assault on the Carsons' house where Ben and Amy have to try and save their children from the demon after Michael gets possessed takes place in the daytime, as does the later scene where Amy is desperately trying to pull Michael out of the flooding water.
** At the very end of the movie, in the middle of what seems a normal street scene of cops, firemen, and emergency workers cleaning up after the battle with the demon is over, the most disturbing moment comes when [[spoiler:Ben, unable to get anyone to pay attention to him or even hear him, suddenly realizes all the signs and text he can see are backwards]], which then leads into [[spoiler:the very last shot of the movie...just another normal, bustling street scene with people going about their business, completely unaware of Ben's handprint on the window]]...

** Although the very last shot of the movie is one of these as well, that's just the ultimate denouement. The real WhamShot begins when Ben, after escaping from the battle with the demon, tries to get the cops, firemen, and emergency workers to pay attention to him...[[spoiler:and then sees the backward text on one cop's badge. The camera lingers on this before flashing to all other signs and text in the scene, showing the same thing.]]

* HeroicSacrifice: In the alternate ending, [[spoiler:Michael is saved because Ben encounters him in the water and pushes him back out to the real world. It is implied this might be why he ends up in the mirror world at the end, because he took his place.]]

* MadnessMantra: Gary Lewis, and all the night watchmen before him, either created a RoomFullOfCrazy, left a DyingClue, or tried to pass on verbal messages (of [[YouHaveToBelieveMe varying degrees of sanity]]) to both explain their actions and get someone to help free the trapped spirits: Esseker. It isn't until Ben with his policeman's skills (and his friend on the force doing some clandestine digging in the records) that anyone is able to figure out what it actually ''means'', then put the pieces together and track it down so they can resolve the UnfinishedBusiness[=/=]GhostlyGoals of Mayflower.

* ShownTheirWork: The TortureCellar used in St. Matthew's Hospital to [[spoiler:cure Anna of possession]] is based on a spiritualist invention called a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychomanteum Psychomanteum]], meant to be used for meditation to help one communicate with the spirits of the dead. At the same time it's an InUniverse mistake since Dr. Kane not only didn't consider what might happen if such a room were used on someone who was possessed, he didn't build it properly. [[note]]The mirrors are supposed to be angled in such a way as to reflect nothing but darkness, and the lighting is supposed to be very dim to facilitate this; the bright lighting and array of vertical mirrors were intended to force the person in the chamber to "confront themselves", but that is completely against both the original use of such a room and [[spoiler:Anna]]'s problem. Even aside from him not understanding or believing in the real explanation for her condition, however, the simple fact a man of science was attempting to use a spiritualist concept would probably explain why he either didn't do the research or deliberately altered what he learned.[[/note]] This may explain why matters did not turn out well, to put it mildly, although even if it had been done right, trying to communicate with the spirit realm while suffering DemonicPossession probably would not have had happy results anyway.

* TwistEnding: [[spoiler:After killing demon-possessed Anna, saving his family, and freeing the spirits trapped in the mirrors, Ben ends up trapped in them himself. [[AndIMustScream Alone. Forever]].]]

'''''Mirrors''''' is a 2008 horror film directed by Creator/AlexandreAja, and stars Creator/KieferSutherland. The film was first titled ''Into the Mirror'', but the name was later changed to ''Mirrors''. Filming began on May 1, 2007, and it was released in American theaters on August 15, 2008.

* ShownTheirWork: The TortureCellar used in St. Matthew's Hospital to [[spoiler:cure Anna of possession]] is based on a spiritualist invention called a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychomanteum Psychomanteum]], meant to be used for meditation to help one communicate with the spirits of the dead. At the same time it's an InUniverse example of CriticalResearchFailure since Dr. Kane not only didn't consider what might happen if such a room were used on someone who was possessed, he didn't build it properly. [[note]]The mirrors are supposed to be angled in such a way as to reflect nothing but darkness, and the lighting is supposed to be very dim to facilitate this; the bright lighting and array of vertical mirrors were intended to force the person in the chamber to "confront themselves", but that is completely against both the original use of such a room and [[spoiler:Anna]]'s problem. Even aside from him not understanding or believing in the real explanation for her condition, however, the simple fact a man of science was attempting to use a spiritualist concept would probably explain why he either didn't do the research or deliberately altered what he learned.[[/note]] This may explain why matters did not turn out well, to put it mildly, although even if it had been done right, trying to communicate with the spirit realm while suffering DemonicPossession probably would not have had happy results anyway.

->''You get a lot of suicide cases where people have slashed their own throats? Didn't think so.''

* UpToEleven: All the ways the Mirror Demon kills or attempts to kill anyone.

** While most of the movie's plot, and especially its scariest scenes, take place at night, the assault on the Carsons' house where Ben and Amy have to try and save their children from the demon after Michael gets possessed takes place in the daytime, as does the later scene where Amy is desperately trying to pull Michael out of the flooding water.

* WhamShot: Although the very last shot of the movie is one of these as well, that's just the ultimate denouement. The real WhamShot begins when Ben, after escaping from the battle with the demon, tries to get the cops, firemen, and emergency workers to pay attention to him...[[spoiler:and then sees the backward text on one cop's badge. The camera lingers on this before flashing to all other signs and text in the scene, showing the same thing.]]

* MagicMirror: Played with. The mirrors ''themselves'' aren't magic, other than their ability to remain unbreakable (or, sometimes, to reform after being cracked/shattered), since this is only thanks to the demon and the murdered souls trapped within them--but this is also what allows the ghosts to haunt Ben and the demon to torment him/kill anyone whose reflection appears in them. Whatever it is that allowed the imprisonment (perhaps due to the nature of the room Dr. Kane built--see the note in ShownTheirWork), it isn't until the souls are freed and the demon is destroyed that the mirrors can finally be broken and their curse lifted.

* MirrorScare: [[RuleOfThree And of course]] (it's even obligatory here because of the premise), there are plenty of scenes where someone (usually Ben, and the audience) is terrified by one of the ghosts or the demon's images within the mirrors.

* AbandonedHospital: What Mayflower was before it became a department store. Complete with [[TortureCellar rooms sealed in the basement]] where [[ColdBloodedTorture disturbing]] [[MadScientist psychiatric experiments]] were carried out, and a massacre of the inmates which led to its closing.

%%* FacialHorror: Angela's death.

* ForTheEvulz: The Mirror Demon [[spoiler:revealing itself to Amy and tormenting the other Carsons]] seems like this, especially since Ben was getting hotter than anyone before him in the search for Esseker.

%%* [[MadwomanInTheAttic Madwoman In The Cellar]]: Anna, originally.

%%* MagicMirror: Please don't tell me you need this one explained to you.
%%* MirrorMonster: Or this one.
%%* MirrorScare: [[RuleOfThree Or this one]]. (It's even obligatory here because of the premise.)

%%* NunsAreSpooky: Taken to an extreme, after [[spoiler:Anna is re-possessed]].

* TortureCellar: It turns out the Mayflower mall, having been built on top of an old mental hospital, still has the old hospital's mirror room -- [[spoiler:where Esseker's doctor attempted to cure her DemonicPossession (mistaken for schizophrenia) by tying her to a chair and leaving her with nothing to look at but her own reflection in every direction for days]] -- intact in its underground levels.

* DemonicPossession: [[spoiler:Anna]]'s original issue, which she [[MustMakeAmends must face again in order to free the souls of the trapped spirits]]. [[ShownTheirWork Is likely a nod to]] [[SocietyMarchesOn the once widespread belief]] that people with mental disorders were possessed by demons. Only here, it's true.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: ''Everyone'' who died in this movie. Eesh.

* FacialHorror: Angela's death.

* GrievousHarmWithABody: Oh those mirrors.

* [[MadwomanInTheAttic Madwoman In The Cellar]]: Anna, originally.

* MagicMirror: Please don't tell me you need this one explained to you.
* MirrorMonster: Or this one.
* MirrorScare: [[RuleOfThree Or this one]]. (It's even obligatory here because of the premise.)

* NunsAreSpooky: Taken to an extreme, after [[spoiler:Anna is re-possessed]].

* SympatheticMagic: The Mirror Demon inflicts harm on people in the real world by inflicting harm/self-harm on their reflections which their physical bodies immediately mirror. Alternatively, it can torture people by causing harm to their reflections which stimulates their pain receptors, without the physical harm translating onto their bodies.

* MustMakeAmends: Although it was the fault of the MadScientist psychiatrist, not her, Anna was well aware that [[spoiler:the demon within her had escaped into the mirrors]], and learns that this has led to countless deaths, and might cause Ben to lose his family too. Althought she initially refuses to help Ben, after he forces her to go at gunpoint, she eventually agrees to [[spoiler:return and absorb the demon back into her again]]. Helped along by her already being TheAtoner (and having joined the church) for [[spoiler:the things the demon made her do when she was possessed the first time]].

** It's unknown what exactly the Mirror Demon is or where it came from before [[spoiler:oriiginally possessing Esseker]], or even if it's a single entity or actually [[IAmLegion Legion]]. A lot of its characteristics -- Esseker's DemonicPossession symptoms, an extreme {{sadist}}ic streak -- befit your classic Hollywood demon, but apparently exorcists and faith-healers were completely useless [[spoiler:at curing Esseker's possession]]. Suggesting the Mirror Demon is a non-Christian devil. [[spoiler:Esseker]] likewise didn't answer when asked what the entity is. For all the audience knows, "demon" is only the most accurate way to describe its characteristics and malevolence, and the entity might actually be [[EldritchAbomination something else entirely]].

* SympatheticMagic: The Mirror Demon inflicts harm on people in the real world by inflicting harm/self-harm on their reflections which their physical bodies immediately mirror. Alternatively, it can torture people by causing harm to their reflections which stimulatees their pain receptors, without the physical harm translating onto their bodies.

* FanService: Christy Carlson Romano is completely naked and taking a shower.