Dark Force Entertainment, with sales and
distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has added a Blu-ray
collector’s edition of director Marina Sargenti’s 1990 horror tale, Mirror
Mirror, to its Mar. 17 release calendar.
Already in place for release on that mid-March
street-date Tuesday is a new 4K restoration of director Matthew Bright’s Freeway
2: Confessions of a Trick Baby.
This is one of those odd horror “classics” that had
its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in May of 1990. Yes, an indie horror film opening at the
Cannes Film Festival!
We’re guessing that this bold move didn’t spark the
hoped-for studio distribution interest for Virginia Perfili’s Orphan
Eyes-produced film, so at the end of August of that year she opened Mirror
Mirror in selected screens in the Detroit area
where her company was based. Theatrical
distribution after that, if any, is a bit sketchy (indie Shapiro-Glickenhaus
Entertainment may have had a look-see deal), but in any case the film resurfaced
in mid-October at the Chicago International Film Festival.
Working the non-genre film festival circuit is not
what indie-produced horror films do, that’s normally reserved for arthouse
entries, which is precisely why Mirror Mirror over
the years has become something of a fan-favorite. There are elements to it that do cross-over
to the arthouse arena.
In any case, the following year Academy Home Entertainment,
the same VHS-home entertainment distribution company that brought you the likes
of Bloody New Year, Blood Evil, Blood Feast and Blood
Mania, released Mirror
Mirror on videocassette.
Producer Virginia Perfili must have had enough
success from this exposure as she was able to write and produce the follow-ups,
Mirror Mirror 2: Raven Dance, in
1994 and Mirror Mirror 3: The Voyeur in
1995 (both featuring “newcomer” Mark Ruffalo).
As to Mirror Mirror
itself, any film with the late Karen Black as the star takes on extra meaning
for genre fans. Here she plays a
recently-widow mother of a teenage “Goth” daughter by the name of Megan, who is
played by Rainbow Harvest (Old Enough, Streets of Gold) …
she did three made for TV movies in 1991 after the release of Mirror
Mirror and then dropped out of sight.
Rainbow Harvest became something of a cult figure,
first her name (that is her name) and then her appearance … she could be Winona
Ryder’s twin (the resemblance is uncanny).
That aside, Megan discovers a cursed mirror (we know
this from the prologue featuring real-life sisters Traci Lee Gold and Michelle
Gold (two of the Gold triplets who all appeared together in the 1984 comedy, Big
Business, with Bette Midler and Lily
Tomlin) in her the bedroom of her new home.
Being an outcast at her new school — for that “Boy George” look — she
soon discovers that the mirror gives her supernatural powers.
She uses these new powers to control and manipulate
her only friend at school, Nikki (Kristin Dattilo — as Detective Barbara Gianna
in the Dexter TV series
and who was also featured as “Janie” in the famous Aerosmith music video,
“Janie’s Got a Gun”) and to seduce the popular “cute” boy, Jeff (Tom Bresnahan),
away from one of her high school tormentors, Charleen (Puppet
Master II, Angel of Destruction).
The power grows and all of those who her cross her
path die horrible deaths … a twist at the end brings the proceedings
full-circle back to the prologue. Mirror
Mirror is a film that has aged well and continues
to entertain.
Bonus goodies include the featurette titled “Reflections
in the Mirror Mirror,” which features film producers Virginia Perfili and Jimmy
Lifton.
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