Reflections: Mirror Mirror II- Raven Dance

Dance, Raven Dance!  Today's film is Mirror Mirror II: Raven Dance.  I actually mentioned this film long ago, but had not actually seen it until recently.  Basically, I highlighted the fact that Sarah Douglas is the female equivalent to Lance Henriksen- always starring in sequels to films in which she wasn't in the original.  She has Superman II (unless you count that one scene), Conan the Destroyer, Puppet Master 3 and others, while Lance has The Omen: Part II, Aliens, and Mimic III, among others.  Here's the thing though: she's barely in this.  She's in the movie like Neil Armstrong (R.I.P.) is in Mass Effect 3!  The plot is a bit confusing, so try to keep up...if I can.  All you need to know is that the Mirror is back and that shit goes down.  Everything else...I'm not sure.  To find out what I mean, read on...

In, I guess, the Present, a woman at an Institution (Douglas) is insisting that this mirror is evil.  The Nuns are not buying it.

Nice of the Nun from the cover of The Devil Inside to make a cameo.

Ready for things to get weird now?

The mirror makes some silly effects and suddenly it becomes, um, more present day.  Some rock band is there...for some reason and play in front of the mirror.  It makes some more silly effects & zaps our heroine and her brother to...somewhere.

Amidst this confusing plot, you can see one of the earliest roles by Mark Ruffalo.  He's the Joe Dalesandro of the film, but only because the other guy is Roddy McDowall.

The title comes from two-three scenes of the heroine dancing and a Raven showing up a couple of times.  No, really.

The whole movie involves a plan between McDowall and this lady to make our heroine lose all of her money by being crazy.  To that end, they hire...William Sanderson?  Why are you back here...and a different character?

That sure won't happen again in this series...right?

Remember what I said in the last review about one scene being in all of the films?  Yeah, this is it for Part II.

I should also mention that there's a scene where McDowall tries to molest our heroine.  Yeah, he'd totally try to molest a girl.  Ri-ight.

I can't even begin to explain what's happening here, but I can tell you that a monster comes out of the mirror and Ruffalo attacks it.  Is Ruffalo a spirit?  What is the monster?  These questions are never really answered.

All of a sudden, our heroine wakes up in the beginning of the movie, just with her in place of Douglas.  Time keeps on slipping?  The End.

Dear Lord, what is this movie?  Let's begin with the good stuff: it looks neat.  If I could actually decipher the plot, it might have some atmosphere.  The acting is not terrible, but it does fluctuate quite a bit.  Here's the problem: I have no idea what this movie is about.  When does the opening take place?  How does the mirror make our heroine teleport?  What is its plan?  Are McDowall and the blonde pawns of it?  Who is Mark Ruffalo here?  How can he always be angry?  How does that work?  Wait- I lost my focus there.  The point is that the movie is a confusing mess, making everything about it weaker.  A stupid story is at least able to be understood if you can place the reality in which it takes place.  This movie is a neat idea...I think.  If someone can explain what the actual idea is, by all means explain it to me.  While I await that explanation, I'm just going to keep making this face...

Next up, the third film takes a very strange turn.  On the plus, Billy Drago makes every film better...right?  Stay tuned...