Mirror, Mirror (1990)
It’s a shaky new start for Megan Gordon following the death of her father a few months previously, a new city, a new home and a new school where she is immediately made to feel uncomfortable by the other girls in class, Charleen Kane running for class president but interested only in currying favour from the cool kids, her rival Nikki Chandler the only person who will even talk to Megan without sneering.
Her mother Susan trapped in her grief, having lost or left behind everything she knew, she is small comfort to Megan who instead becomes entranced by the antique mirror in her bedroom, thought to have been taken by the house clearance firm by curio dealer Emelin who becomes concerned, aware of the history of the house and the mirror, tied with the tragedy of previous occupants decades before with rumours of the black arts.
A horror film released in 1990 which featured a principal cast and crew overwhelmingly composed of women, directed by Marina Sargenti from a script co-written with Annette Cascone, Gina Cacone and Yuri Zeltser and starring Burnt Offerings’ Karen Black as Susan with Rainbow Harvest, Charlie Spradling and Kristin Dattilo as Megan, Charleen and Nikki, that claim is perhaps more commendable than the film itself, Mirror, Mirror lacking any sparkle or dazzle but still falling into teen-boy-baiting scenes of swimsuits and showers.
Black determined to be self-absorbed and superficial, that she is apparently channelling the maternal figures from Beetlejuice or Heathers can be seen as a reflection of the decision to dress Megan as though she were Winona Ryder portraying Lydia Deetz or Veronica Sawyer though Harvest’s hoped-for ironic detachment comes across less as self-confident cool than selfish indifference to what is happening and what she has caused.
With no moment of realisation of the chaos and injury she has caused, presumably aware from the start that she has tapped into the power of the mirror and released the demon within, Megan’s switch to evil is uncomplicated, Mirror, Mirror playing with the tepid urgency of an eighties soap opera, the rivalries and sniping of the obviously wealthy high school kids an inconsequential background which generates no real emotional power or connection to the empty characters.
The supporting cast wasting the presence of Blade Runner’s William Sadler and Heroes’ Stephen Tobolowsky as pet undertaker Mister Vere and disinterested teacher Mister Anderson who behaves as though his students are a burden upon his time, only The Munsters’ Yvonne De Carlo is interesting to watch as the mysterious but largely peripheral Emelin, her great sad eyes showing pools of sympathy which would drown the rest of the ensemble.
Mirror, Mirror will be streaming on the Arrow platform from Friday 14th March
