Mirror Mirror is a 1990 American supernatural horror film directed by Marina Sargenti, based on a screenplay by Annette Cascone and Gina Cascone. It stars Karen Black, Rainbow Harvest, Yvonne De Carlo and William Sanderson.
Shy teenager Megan moves to a new town with her widowed mother and quickly becomes the most unpopular girl in high school. But when she starts to communicate with a mysterious mirror, her tormentors begin to meet with a horrifying series of 'accidents'. Is the mirror a reflection of Megan's own inner demons... or has she unwittingly opened the doorway of the damned?
Followed by two sequels, the first of which gave Mark Ruffalo his film debut.
Tropes Tropes:
- Alpha Bitch: Charleen, a bully running for class president, quickly targets Megan when she starts at her new high school.
- Auto Erotica: Charleen and Jeff start are making out in Jeff's car, and Charleen starts to to give him a blowjob before Jeff stops her—as a result of Megan's magic— and leaves in search of Megan.
- Bathroom Stall of Overheard Insults: Beta Bitch Kim is in a toilet stall when she overhears Megan confessing to the 'murder-by-magic' of Alpha Bitch Charleen. This ends badly for Kim.
- Beta Bitch: Kim is this to Charleen, and becomes Megan's next victim after she has dealt with Charleen.
- Blood Is Squicker in Water: After drowning Ron in the bath, Nikki's doppelganger bites a chunk of flesh out his chin. The wound turns the water in the tub pink.
- The Corruptor: The demon in the mirror grants wishes to its owner that gradually cause the owner to slide into evil.
- Deadly Bath: Megan harnesses the mirror's powers to scald Charleen to death in the girls' locker room showers. Later, a doppelganger of Nikki drowns Ron in the bathtub in Nikki's house.
- Distant Prologue: Opens with a scene in 1950s Iowa where Mary Weatherford sacrifices her sister Elizabeth in front of a large mirror, stabbing her to death on a bed. The movie then cuts to 1990 with Susan and Megan Gordon moving into the house.
- "Double, Double" Title
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Susan's dogs are able to sense that there is something wrong about the antique mirror: barking and whining outside the bedroom when its powers start to manifest. Susan dismisses it.
- Fingore: The mirror causes Susan's hand to be caught in the garbage disposal. Her hand is ground off at the wrist and she bleeds to death.
- Fan Disservice: Buxom Alpha Bitch Charleen's shower scene is not remotely played for titillation, even discounting what happens during it.
- Flies Equals Evil: One of the first signs of the the mirror's evil nature is a large number of flies congregating on its surface when Megan is upset about her mother flirting with Mr. Veze. One of the flies lands in Veze's food, causing him to choke.
- Goth: Megan is a goth girl from Los Angles who has just moved to Iowa and her fashion choices make her an immediate for the Alpha Bitch of her new school.
- Goth Girls Know Magic: After several unexplained events Megan becomes convinced that the mirror in her bedroom possesses magic powers. Megan begins harnessing them herself, using them to manipulate Jeff into developing a crush on her, and then to kill Charleen in the girls' showers.
- Hand in the Hole: The garbage disposal is playing up and Susan turns it off and reaches in to try to clear it. After a few tense moments, she pulls at the rag that was jamming it and it starts functioning normally. However, a few minutes later, the mirror causes it to malfunction again, and this time when she reaches into it, the mirror switches it back on; grinding her hand off.
- Haunted House Historian: Emelin, the auctioneer in charge of the house clearance, becomes this regarding the Weatherford House after she finds a cache of journals that describe the mirror's apparent possession by a demonic force able to grant wishes while clearing the house. She is the one who provides the information on the demon and how to defeat it to Nikki.
- Human Sacrifice: In 1950s Iowa, Mary Weatherford sacrifices her sister Elizabeth in front of a large mirror, stabbing her to death on a bed.
- Mirror Monster: The mirror contains a demonic entity able to grant wishes. And occasionally it will reach out and inflict a more physical punishment on someone in the real world.
- Picked Last: As part of her ostracization, Megan is picked last, and very reluctantly, by Alpha Bitch Charleen when the water polo teams are picked in gym class.
- Reset Button: After Megan sacrifices herself to the mirror to stop it, Nikki begs the mirror to restore things back to how they were before. The mirror does this by creating a Stable Time Loop by sending Nikki and Megan back in time to take the place of Mary and Elizabeth Waterford.
- Satiating Sandwich: Nikki's boyfriend Ron considers himself a mastery of the 'culinary arts', devoted to making sandwiches. He even narrates making his sandwiches like a sports commentator.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Mary Weatherford sealed the demon inside the mirror by sacrificing her sister Elizabeth and then covering the mirror with a black cloth. Emelin and Mrs. Perlili unknowingly free the demon to start acting on the mortal world again when they find the mirror inside a sealed closet 40 years later and pull the cloth off.
- Stable Time Loop: The ending implies that Nikki creates one when she begs the mirror to restore things back to how they were before, with Nikki and Megan being sent back in time to take the places of Mary and Elizabeth Waterford.
- Tongue Trauma: After murdering Kim in the bathroom, Megan cuts her tongue out with a shard of broken mirror.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Emelin and Mrs. Perlili unknowingly release the Sealed Evil in a Can when they break into the sealed closet and remove the black cloth from the mirror while cleaning out the Weatherford house so the new occupants can move in.
