Word has gotten around that the teaser trailer for Mirrors received a big laughing ovation at yesterday’s press screening for The Happening. And while the teaser definitely clings to the exhausted tropes of countless sub-par Korean horror remaks starring various Buffies (the film is a loose remake of 2003’s Into the Mirrors), I’m interested to see it.

Sure, the token spooky kid warrants an eye-roll lasting two hours but I’m betting that writer/director Alexandre Aja (Haute Tension) delivers some unsuspecting, legitimate scares and original visuals. Aja possesses a fresh eye and passion for R-rated horror that is sorely lacking in the genre and, talent often attributed to the louder, hokier Eli Roth or Saw XII. And if Mirrors sucks, Aja has Pirahna 3D scheduled for next summer and early buzz for that one is [drum-roll] anti-suck.

Shock has a new video clip for Mirrors as well featuring Aja discussing the film’s influences (The Shining, of course) and if you only watch one of these, check it out instead. There’s a worrisome exploding mirrors climax with star Kiefer Sutherland (as a mall security guard) that belongs on VH1 Classics, but also a collection of freaky, nightmarish flinches that don’t appear in the teaser below and do their job.

Mirrors opens on August 15th.

Discuss: Am I way off? Is Mirrors more of the Grudge/Ring blahs, or might Aja bring something new to a summer horror matinee to bookend seasonal sleeper The Strangers? Please, no jokes about co-star Amy Smart and the need for mirrors in Crank.