Wow! I hated it.

Mirrors in horror movies are horribly overdone. I like the thrill of it, sometimes; it’s a classic little trope, and mirrors/reflections are pretty prevalent in the world. The title of this film, Behind You, describes the scariness of mirrors just about as blandly as they showcase it. From directors and writers Andrew Mecham and Matthew Whedon, this unseasoned little morsel of mush is available on Hulu.

**SPOILERS (but, honestly, don’t waste an hour and a half of your life watching it)***

Pretty basic movie. Two sisters, older Olivia (Addy Miller) and younger Claire (Elizabeth Birkner) are moved into their closed-off, mysterious Aunt Beth’s (Jan Broberg) house after the death of their mother. What they don’t know is that, 40 years ago, Beth’s younger sister, Angela, was possessed by a MIRROR DEMON and, to keep the world safe, Beth and her then-boyfriend, Charles (Phillip Brodie), kill Angela. Charles runs away, leaving Beth with the blame, but returns years later to make it up to her, so he is currently living in her house as, like, a helpful friend. Scary.

As it goes, Olivia peels away some wallpaper over one of the mirrors and sees a dead. Claire becomes possessed, talking to the demon through her bunny as it promises to bring her mother back from the dead. Charles accidentally gives Claire peanut butter, and she goes into anaphylactic shock at dinner, but recovers–and that was the scariest thing in this movie, honestly (that and Claire watching Charles stab himself in the neck later on.)

The acting wasn’t good. There was nothing–NOTHING–keeping me invested. No character development ever occurred. The demon barely even appeared! The mirrors barely came into play! I was bored!

Eventually, Beth and Charles convince Olivia that they can ~save~ Claire form the demon without killing her like poor Angela. But they lie, and Beth is just about to stab Claire when Olivia, who was released from a locked room by the demon, comes in with a gun that was apparently never properly put away earlier in the movie (bad move with children in the house). How did she find the gun so quickly? Why, if the demon can use a lock, didn’t it attack Beth and Charles? No sense–it makes no sense.

Anyway, Olivia doesn’t want to kill her sister, so she suggests peanut butter to scare the darn demon out of her sister’s body. Because of course a little girl’s body can outlast a timeless, murderous demon. And she does! Yay! But the demon comes back. Boring.

It was like two horrible movies: one ended when Claire was saved with the magical peanut butter, and the other began at that point, leaving the four of them to fight the demon with MIRROR SHARDS because it is apparently like a reverse vampire: only visible in the mirror.

In the end, Beth takes the demon into herself and Olivia delivers a finishing little stab to her aunt, apparently sending the demon away. The girls leave in an ambulance to stay in their old house (without any adult supervision) and then the camera zooms into the body of Aunt Beth, and then a red candle that–mysteriously–goes out.

Behind You is definitely something I would like to put behind me. Why are movies like this still being made? Why must the horror genre be watered down so terribly? GIVE ME MORE GOOD MOVIES! This movie only got two stars from me because I can’t stand being mean, and the little kid was cute (but not a great actor….sorry kid, and keep practicing.)

With wishes that no one else gets a headache from this movie, sincerely yours,

Abby