(Credit IMDb) A young girl witnesses her brother murder a man through a reflection in a mirror. Twenty years later the mirror is shattered, freeing his evil spirit, which seeks revenge for his death.
Horror fans are often mixed on this movie. They either like it, dislike it or even go as far as to hate it. It moves slowly at times but like the movie it was so obviously influenced by, Halloween it builds up the suspense terrifically, even adding in some great death scenes in the process. The characters are better developed then one could expect for an Italian horror movie, nothing memorable but good enough to keep me caring. I liked the background story of the children too, especially the trauma in Willy's case. It also adds some Exorcist like elements too with the Priest and supernatural happenings. The musical score is chilling, and adds to the suspense. I enjoyed myself, and find it to be an underrated 80's Horror gem. Great effort by Ulli Lommel
Performances Suzanna Love makes for an effective lead, at least by Italian acting standards anyway. John Carradine is a favorite of mine, but to say his performance is good here, would be lying. He gets a paycheck, but is wooden in doing so, entirely unconvincing. Ron James is wooden in his role as well. Nicholas Love was creepy as the Brother. Llewelyn Thomas is creepy as the Priest, and I'll always remember being creeped out by his shot with blood dripping down his forehead on the movie cover.
Bottom line it's not perfect, but it's a prime example of why I love Italian Horror, suspenseful, well made, and even terrifying at times. You could do a lot worse then this part slasher, part possession film. Recommended if you can find it, sadly it's been banned as a Video Nasty in some areas. One thing's for sure, I won't look at Mirror's the same way again after Mirrors, and now this movie.
7/10
Horror fans are often mixed on this movie. They either like it, dislike it or even go as far as to hate it. It moves slowly at times but like the movie it was so obviously influenced by, Halloween it builds up the suspense terrifically, even adding in some great death scenes in the process. The characters are better developed then one could expect for an Italian horror movie, nothing memorable but good enough to keep me caring. I liked the background story of the children too, especially the trauma in Willy's case. It also adds some Exorcist like elements too with the Priest and supernatural happenings. The musical score is chilling, and adds to the suspense. I enjoyed myself, and find it to be an underrated 80's Horror gem. Great effort by Ulli Lommel
Performances Suzanna Love makes for an effective lead, at least by Italian acting standards anyway. John Carradine is a favorite of mine, but to say his performance is good here, would be lying. He gets a paycheck, but is wooden in doing so, entirely unconvincing. Ron James is wooden in his role as well. Nicholas Love was creepy as the Brother. Llewelyn Thomas is creepy as the Priest, and I'll always remember being creeped out by his shot with blood dripping down his forehead on the movie cover.
Bottom line it's not perfect, but it's a prime example of why I love Italian Horror, suspenseful, well made, and even terrifying at times. You could do a lot worse then this part slasher, part possession film. Recommended if you can find it, sadly it's been banned as a Video Nasty in some areas. One thing's for sure, I won't look at Mirror's the same way again after Mirrors, and now this movie.
7/10