Mirror Mirror (1990)

Mirror, Mirror (1990) is a surprisingly entertaining little horror flick. The plot is pretty thin and there is not much in the way of gore or nudity, but the strong cast and unique focal point kept me interested.

Teen goth Megan (Rainbow Harvest) and her mother Susan (Karen Black) are starting over in a new town a few months after Megan's father died. I am not the first to notice, but it really is striking how much Megan/Rainbow looks like Lydia Deetz/Winona Ryder (if she was the kind of goth you find at a punk/new wave club instead of a used bookstore).

looking like Girl George over here

Their new house comes with an old mirror that starts making spooky things happen. All the Normies at school scoff at Megan’s appearance, and hot mean girl Charleen (Charlie Spradling) is especially cruel. Nice girl Nikki reaches out to Megan, even if her dipshit boyfriend finds it frustrating. Nikki reminded me of Angela’s “good girl” former friend on My So-Called Life (plus some young Hilary Swank DNA), pleasant but boring.

Hilary Blank

Part of why I enjoyed the movie was the choice to make Megan the lead character. In so many movies of this ilk, Nikki would be the lead watching her new friend fall victim to the mysterious mirror magic. I think it is much more interesting and relatable to follow the outcast getting harassed and tempted to lash out. There isn't much internal conflict or depth to that temptation (which could really have elevated the film), but watching the gorgeous goth girlie go bad is a good time.

Karen Black is great as a mom who isn’t perfect but is trying the best she can. Bit parts include character actors (and future Deadwood co-stars) William Sanderson as an animal undertaker/potential suitor for mom and Stephen Tobolowsky (The Tobes!) as Megan’s mildly dick-ish teacher. Legendary actress Yvonne De Carlo plays the antiques dealer finding out about the mirror.

There are a couple creepy moments and kills, but not a lot of onscreen violence. Gore and nudity are entirely limited to one death, with some trims to that shower scene this could easily be PG-13 or a solid made-for-tv movie. If this had more weird/crazy juice (like the bubblegum bit or Megan licking the dripping mirror) or gore it could be a minor Midnight Movie classic. Instead, it is an enjoyable, fairly low-key and low-budget high school horror story.

This was written by sisters Annette and Gina Cascone, who went on to write the teen horror book series “Deadtime Stories” during the Goosebumps craze. They even used this movie’s name/plot for one of their books a few years later! It was directed by Marina Sargenti, a woman who went on to direct TV-movies and shows afterwards. After reading all that it makes complete sense that this feels like a surprisingly good Teen Horror TV-movie outside of the brief boobage/burn make-up.

"I can't believe it's not Goosebumps!"