Rainbow Harvest? What kind of name is that? Especially if you're playing a goth chick named Megan, with Karen Black as your mother! Did her parents smoke a whole friggin' barn of weed? Sorry, I'm mean - but she sure has a special name and I'm sure she's happier than I am nowadays anyway. But back to the reason why I'm writing this text: Mirror Mirror, the first of a small army of films about a haunted mirror who indirectly kills people. Here we with young Megan who together her spoiled mother Susan (Karen Black, in a very inspired performance!) moves to a small town - and of course ends up in a house with the above mentioned mirror (it looks like something from a cheap fantasy film).
Megan is a goth girl, all dressed in black, and that causes (like always in movies) some problems in her new class. What she doesn't know is that the mirror has possessed her and she can throught take revenge on classmates, teachers and other fools that dare to fuck around with her! One girl gets burned to death in the shower, a teacher gets a heart attack - you get the point. Yeah, this is bascially a very tame, different version of Carrie - but less spectacular and less original. I think De Palma's Carrie is a damn masterpiece, but that's another story.
Mirror Mirror is tame, but it also works better than it should. I think it mostly depends on very stylish cinematography and a young cast that delivers a lot more than they probably needed. Rainbow Harvest looks like she could been a perfect contestant to play the lead in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, if it was shot in '89-'90. She's dressed up with a lot of make-up and alternative clothes, looking "dangerous", but still feels real. Her friends is good to, but more or less playing characters found in every other horror movie from the same time. The real highlight is Karen Black - probably the oddest actress in the world - who have a lot of fun as Megan's socially dynfunctional mother. Her scenes against William Sanderson (who also makes a weird performance), the 'Nam vet who think he's having flashbacks when supernatural stuff is happening, is brilliant and very off-beat in a good way.
Mirror Mirror is a bit too long, 105 minutes, with a story that would have been perfectly handled if it was 80-90 minutes long. The biggest problem isn't the length, but the lack of gore and horror. Sure, it tries and tries, but it's like someone - maybe a producer - is holding the scares back. The shower scene is good, it feels intense and comes at a perfect time when I almost thought it would be no horror at all. I can imagine it would scare one or two school girls at the time.
...And that maybe is the problem. The filmmakers wanted to aim the movie to everyone, including the teen girl audience. It's a soft movie, both visually and storywise, but competently made and with nice ideas. I liked it, but I feel it was never meant for me, now in the year 2013. This was made for a bunch of pyjama party girls, imagined in the twisted, commercial mind of a shallow producer, who want to see a horror movie - but not be too scared.
This is a great example of a film that should be remade. It's a franchise that needs to be rebooted with some stronger themes and braver filmmakers.
"Rainbow Harvest? What kind of name is that? Especially if you're playing a goth chick named Megan, with Karen Black as your mother! Did her parents smoke a whole friggin' barn of weed? Sorry, I'm mean - but she sure has a special name and I'm sure she's happier than I am nowadays anyway."
Well, its sounds like a hippie name or maybe one of Zappas children.
"Yeah, this is bascially a very tame, different version of Carrie - but less spectacular and less original. I think De Palma's Carrie is a damn masterpiece, but that's another story."
I prefer Sisters (1973).....best part about Carrie(1976) is the actors, the rest does nothing for me.
Speaking bland, tame version.....see Carrie(TV 2002) the remake, it has some great scenes but way too bland.
"The real highlight is Karen Black - probably the oddest actress in the world - who have a lot of fun as Megan's socially dynfunctional mother."
Yeah, but somehow she always manages to get it right, she has done some very impressive performances over the years, how about a Karen Black week?
"Sure, it tries and tries, but it's like someone - maybe a producer - is holding the scares back. The shower scene is good, it feels intense and comes at a perfect time when I almost thought it would be no horror at all. I can imagine it would scare one or two school girls at the time.
...And that maybe is the problem. The filmmakers wanted to aim the movie to everyone, including the teen girl audience. It's a soft movie, both visually and storywise, but competently made and with nice ideas. I liked it, but I feel it was never meant for me, now in the year 2013. This was made for a bunch of pyjama party girls, imagined in the twisted, commercial mind of a shallow producer, who want to see a horror movie - but not be too scared."
Yeah, find out your demographic before you make the film.
"This is a great example of a film that should be remade. It's a franchise that needs to be rebooted with some stronger themes and braver filmmakers."
Yes, remake bad films not good ones.
Great review and thanks.
Posted by: Megatron | February 26, 2013 at 17:21