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Dark Mirror
USA 2007
produced by Erin Ploss-Compoamor for Cut Glass Productions
directed by Pablo Proenza
starring Lisa Vidal, David Chisum, Joshua Pelegrin, Lupe Ontiveros, Christine Lakin, David Farkas, John Newton, Jim Storm, Tucker Smallwood, Jay Knowlton, Jareb Dauplaise, Jean Carol, Susan Brindley, Marcus DeAnda, Juliana Rong, Kristin Lorenz, Madeline Dignadice, Dakota Edwards, Daeg Faerch, Deborah Jay, John Manzo, Tim Pfeiffer, Sarah Kelly
written by Pablo Proenza, Matthew Reynolds, music by Pieter A.Schlosser, Isaac Sprintis
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Photographer Debbie (Lisa Vidal) moves into a new house with her
husband Jim (David Chisum) and son Ian (Joshua Pelegrin), a house that
seems perfect at first - but then she thinks she's stalked by a hooded guy and
starts to believe the house is haunted by its former owner. Murders occur in the
neighbourhood, and all victims are people she has just photographed. Helped by her
mother, Debbie desperately tries to find out what's going on and how it
relates to the ghost world - and she soon blames the former owner of the
house to be the hooded killer. The more she investigates though, the more
she gets freaked out, and it all culminates in her shooting her hubby in
the leg, confusing him for a ghost. When she finds out, she faints, and
when she wakes up, her husband has tied her to a chair and tells her
everything supernatural that has been happening has only happened in her
mind, and that she herself has actually been the killer she has been
looking for, suffering from some sort of schizophrenia. Naturally, she doesn't believe him, until he tells her her
mother has died five years ago - which she actually remembers. Jim
decides to keep Debbie tied up over night and sleep on it to decide what
to do with her in the morning - not a good idea, since in the night,
Debbie, thinking of herself as the former owner of the house, manages to
free herself and stab him. It's only when she sees herself in the mirror
trying to stab her son Ian too that she realizes what's going on, and
instead of him she stabs herself ... If my synopsis above
doesn't make a lot of sense, I'm not in the least surprised, because the
film doesn't make too much sense either - yet that's not to say Dark
Mirror is a bad film as such, as a mystery it's actually pretty
interesting, manages to keep the suspense up througout and keeps one
guessing until the very end. That said though, the film isn't a perfect
piece of mystery/suspense cinema either, its plot might feature quite a
few surprises, but as a whole it lacks originality and its direction might
be dynamic and effective but lacks true vision - but it's still good
genre entertainment as it is.
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