Mirrors/The Happening (DVD)

Double bill of US film thrillers. Kiefer Sutherland stars in the supernatural tale, 'Mirrors' (2007), as Ben Carson, an ex-cop who quit his job owing to post-traumatic stress syndrome and now works as a night security guard at an old department store that was burned out in a fire. Soon after starting the job, Ben sees horrific images in the store's many mirrors; weird spirits that seem intent on pursuing him and his estranged family and watching them through the medium of any nearby reflective surface. Can Ben discover the origin of these evil spirits - and reveal the story they are trying to tell - in time to save himself and those he loves? In end-of-the-world thriller 'The Happening' (2008), a science teacher and his family try to outrun a neurotoxin sweeping the country. Lecturing his students about the mass disappearance of bees, teacher Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg) is informed that a wave of mass suicides is occurring across the country, initially believed to be some form of biological terrorist attack. Deciding to leave town by train with his wife, Alma (Zooey Deschanel), fellow teacher Julian (John Leguizamo) and Julian's daughter, Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez), the train comes to a halt before its final destination when the crew loses contact with the outside world. As the full enormity of the situation sinks in, the little information available from news reports suggests that the rapidly spreading neurotoxin is emanating from plants, and being spread on the wind. As the suicide pandemic reaches ever smaller population centres, Elliot, Alma and Jess have to fend for themselves, desperately seeking shelter from the approaching storm.