The Eye

The Eye

Danny and Oxide Pang were known for their frenetic take on East Asian cinema with the release of Bangkok Dangerous, their first feature as co-directors and one of the many success stories which went on to ‘enjoy’ a Hollywood remake (which they also helmed). The Eye, their second film together, came in on the height of the wave of Eastern horror in the wake of the Ring, before the market became saturated with gore-fodder and spooky girl movies.
Whilst there is some personality in the cinematography, the screen often washed with a sickly green reminiscent of some of Christopher Doyle or Jeanne Pierre Jeunet’s work, the story treads old ground with its premise. Our heroine Mun is the beneficiary of a cornea transplant and thus able to see for the first time after a successful operation, but after a time it’s clear that she sees more than most.
She sees dead people.
Admittedly previous entries in transplant horror tend to focus on the new body parts being evil or corrupting the host (see The Hand, Rabid, Idle Hands) rather than a gateway to the undead, but The Eye is unsuccessful as a horror film. Choosing not to go down the road of gore the film is surprisingly light on genuine scares with only a midway lift scene causing the skin to crawl, whilst the bombastic Mothman Prophecies-style ending seems to belong to another film entirely.
Beyond a few visual flourishes (Mun’s new sight allows the Pangs to play with focus) there is little to recommend The Eye above dozens of other Eastern horror entries released in the last decade and a half. Its popularity likely down to its appearance early on in the wave, for once there is the possibility that the Hollywood remake may fare better than the original (unlike the reportedly dire Nicolas Cage version of Bangkok Dangerous).