Carrie on my wayward movie
Mirror, Mirror (1990): 7 out of 10: Goth Kid moves from LA to small-town America and her new bedroom comes with a haunted mirror. Grab hold of your dirty pillows and watch out for pigs’ blood cause we got ourselves a real-life Carrie up in these parts.
The Good
The Good: This is really not that bad a horror movie. A good background story involving the titular mirror. A Lydia from Beetlejuice cosplayer played by Rainbow Harvest. Good girl best friend (Kristin Datillo), Bad girl vixen (Charlie Spradling) and whacky wig wearing mother (Karen Black) round out the much better than it needed to be cast.
In addition, the horror scenes are quite well done. There are some fun surprises in store when everyday appliances get possessed by “The Mirror”
The Bad
The Bad: While originality is often overrated (some of the worst films I have ever seen are swimming in originality) one would be mistaken not to point out that certain elements of this film may harken back to other films. In Mirror Mirror’s defense, it itself was copied by more than a few films.
In Conclusion
In conclusion: Mirror, Mirror is a nice quiet well made horror film. It is no Death Spa, however. Chances are you will have forgotten you have seen it by the time it rolls back on your streaming service.
RiffTrax Version
RiffTrax version: 8 out of 10: Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett go to town on this derivative 1990s horror film that is solidly in their wheelhouse. To RiffTrax’s credit, it does not appear they edited the film (It may seem like the film cuts away during gory scenes and demon mirror attacks, but the actual film does that as well.)
I love it when RiffTrax covers a film I reviewed a while back. Especially one I enjoyed without the riffs. There are some standout lines (Mike’s January 6th joke about overturning a student election is a particular standout). They also noticed some things I missed, such as the incessant Pepsi product placement and how everything from people’s clothing to school decorations was blue.
Mirror, Mirror has some slow bits (One a slow pan around a high school lunchroom is called out by the boys). And I confess I didn’t enjoy the film as much on the second viewing. I still recommend it and I think the RiffTrax version is the way to go. For one thing, thier copy of the movie seems a lot better than whatever pan and scan hell I captured the screenshots above on.