I'm not totally agreed to categorize Into the Mirror as a pure horror movie. In my opinion, it is more of a thriller movie, with horror elements within it. It does have a 'ghostly' appearance and 'supernatural' effect like 'those 'deviating' images in the mirror. It is slow-paced movie, with investigations involving cops with hundreds of dialogue lines, more of a drama. And the eerie tension is noticeably below average, only at some points where homicide occurred, and it was not much, I notice there were only four deaths in this movie, including death of the antagonist near the final scene. That's why I prefer to call this movie as a thriller, not a pure horror movie.
The idea for the movie was original, it was quite good. Instead of focusing storyline on haunted house, hotel, etc, the director decided to take different approach into making a horror movie (though I think he did not make a quite impression of a horror one). Into the Mirror tells the story of a series of mysterious deaths occurred in a supermarket, all which involving mirrors. Finally it was revealed that all victims were murdered by their own mirror images. And there was a clumsy cop trying to investigate the murders as he was still traumatized for carelessly causing the death of his own partner while held as hostage by a group of crooks. The investigation became more complicated as it unwrapped some peculiar facts like the concept of 'another world behind the mirrors' (well this one is more of a fantasy, world behind mirrors, eh?), 'a ghost seek for revenge', and 'twin sisters'. The plot was then rather predictable: the task of the cop was to help the 'undead' looking for the murderer.
The opening scene itself was excellent. Scene of an employer trapped inside the supermarket after it was closed looking for exit, and then she was killed when standing in front of a mirror. A decent introduction to the movie's storyline.
However, despite the somewhat good ending (i.e. the aforementioned revenge was successful), the ending was rather vague. Unlike the self-explanatory opening scene, it is quite possible that the ending left you many unsolved and confusing questions. It was told that the protagonist had actually died in the real world, and now he lived in the mirror world. Little bit confusing, right? Ah yes, maybe the director did not want to leave a 'pure' good ending, instead leaving you with questions, or else, forced you to watch the movie over and over again to understand the ending.
Generally, while not the best movie ever made, Into The Mirror is still worth a try (or rent, if you are reluctant to buy). As a horror movie, it still lacked requirements to be a good one. But the unique story has its own strong point. Maybe it's so strong that it interested Hollywood to remake their own version of this movie (of course with more terrors and gory scenes, Hollywood-style (Mirrors starring Kiefer Sutherland anyone?). Yeah, another Asian flick to be remade by Hollywood!). If you like horror movies with non-stop terror, do not watch this. You will be boring by its slow-paced story and hellishly long dialogue lines. But if you are willing to be more patient, maybe you will find hidden gem somewhere between the scenes (in which, too bad, I mostly didn't). Not a special movie that I will remember for a long time though, but it is not that bad. Give the mirrors a chance.
The idea for the movie was original, it was quite good. Instead of focusing storyline on haunted house, hotel, etc, the director decided to take different approach into making a horror movie (though I think he did not make a quite impression of a horror one). Into the Mirror tells the story of a series of mysterious deaths occurred in a supermarket, all which involving mirrors. Finally it was revealed that all victims were murdered by their own mirror images. And there was a clumsy cop trying to investigate the murders as he was still traumatized for carelessly causing the death of his own partner while held as hostage by a group of crooks. The investigation became more complicated as it unwrapped some peculiar facts like the concept of 'another world behind the mirrors' (well this one is more of a fantasy, world behind mirrors, eh?), 'a ghost seek for revenge', and 'twin sisters'. The plot was then rather predictable: the task of the cop was to help the 'undead' looking for the murderer.
The opening scene itself was excellent. Scene of an employer trapped inside the supermarket after it was closed looking for exit, and then she was killed when standing in front of a mirror. A decent introduction to the movie's storyline.
However, despite the somewhat good ending (i.e. the aforementioned revenge was successful), the ending was rather vague. Unlike the self-explanatory opening scene, it is quite possible that the ending left you many unsolved and confusing questions. It was told that the protagonist had actually died in the real world, and now he lived in the mirror world. Little bit confusing, right? Ah yes, maybe the director did not want to leave a 'pure' good ending, instead leaving you with questions, or else, forced you to watch the movie over and over again to understand the ending.
Generally, while not the best movie ever made, Into The Mirror is still worth a try (or rent, if you are reluctant to buy). As a horror movie, it still lacked requirements to be a good one. But the unique story has its own strong point. Maybe it's so strong that it interested Hollywood to remake their own version of this movie (of course with more terrors and gory scenes, Hollywood-style (Mirrors starring Kiefer Sutherland anyone?). Yeah, another Asian flick to be remade by Hollywood!). If you like horror movies with non-stop terror, do not watch this. You will be boring by its slow-paced story and hellishly long dialogue lines. But if you are willing to be more patient, maybe you will find hidden gem somewhere between the scenes (in which, too bad, I mostly didn't). Not a special movie that I will remember for a long time though, but it is not that bad. Give the mirrors a chance.