For my birthday I decided to view a "new" title from auteur film maker Mike Flanagan. With Oculus (2013-also reviewed) having been my intro to his work,I decided to look into the first of Flanagan's mirrors.
View on the film:
Filmed in 4 days from a budget raised on GoFundMe, editor/cinematographer/co-writer/director Mike Flanagan reflects on what was to come with future recurring motifs of stretched lower jaws and an abrasive use of alarm sounds booming in the location. Set in one single room, Flanagan impressively locks the location with a slow-burn Horror atmosphere threaded from side shots of the pristine white room and long lingering shots aimed straight at the mirror. Reviving some of the history of the mirror mentioned here for Oculus (2013) later, the screenplay by Flanagan & Seidman gazes into unsettling psychological horror from the monologues by Russel cracking his state of mind over a desire for the mirror to reveal its secrets. On his own for the whole film, Scott Graham (who'd later work with Flanagan on Oculus and Absentia (2011)) gives a wonderfully jittery turn as Russel, whose calculations and extensive research are torn by the Oculus rift.
View on the film:
Filmed in 4 days from a budget raised on GoFundMe, editor/cinematographer/co-writer/director Mike Flanagan reflects on what was to come with future recurring motifs of stretched lower jaws and an abrasive use of alarm sounds booming in the location. Set in one single room, Flanagan impressively locks the location with a slow-burn Horror atmosphere threaded from side shots of the pristine white room and long lingering shots aimed straight at the mirror. Reviving some of the history of the mirror mentioned here for Oculus (2013) later, the screenplay by Flanagan & Seidman gazes into unsettling psychological horror from the monologues by Russel cracking his state of mind over a desire for the mirror to reveal its secrets. On his own for the whole film, Scott Graham (who'd later work with Flanagan on Oculus and Absentia (2011)) gives a wonderfully jittery turn as Russel, whose calculations and extensive research are torn by the Oculus rift.