The Eye (Jian gui) (2002)

Sex :
Violence :
Director Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang
Writers Jo Jo Yuet-chun Hui, Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang
Starring Angelica Lee, Lawrence Chou, Yut Lai So, Chutcha Rujinanon
Genre Ghost Story
Tagline Some things are better left unseen
15 second cap Mun is seeing dead people after an eye operation, why?
Country

Review

“But last night I saw someone drop by to visit her.” – Mun

Blind chick Mun is given the opportunity of seeing for the first time with a cornea transplant. The operation is a success and Mun is soon surfing for porn able to interact with her world visually. All would be peachy keen, except that she’s seeing people that no one else can. Worse, she’s also noticing this black shadow dude leading people off. That would be people who are just about to die. Before she can scream out “I see dead people”, Mun along with Dr Wah are off discovering what the secret behind Mun’s new fangled vision is.

What’s the story behind Mun’s visuals, who’s the creepy shadow dude, and exactly what can come off all this? Much thrills and chills ensue. Ready to take off the sunglasses?

You know what, I’m going to come clean right here right now and admit to wanting to look away from the screen from time to time during this engrossing and tight scare ride out of Asia. Yes that’s right, the dude that reviews umpteen slasher flicks without raising a sweat, was bounced down on the mat by what the Pang brothers delivered in this absorbing and frightening movie. Hey it’s good to be scared, and even better if that’s during a horror movie. Big respect to the Pangs for the reminder there.

The Pang brothers have a background in film editing, and that shines on through in this movie. Forget about add-on scenes, there’s not even a single wasted frame in this movie! Everything is tightly constructed, the flick is streamlined, and it’ll hit you between the eyes with its narrative and scare tactics.

There’s plenty of use of odd angles, focusing on seemingly non-important objects, and the Pangs are beyond exception in their use of locations to bring the tension right to the fore; all about those hospital corridors, friends and neighbours. And if that isn’t enough, they really nail Mon’s POV shots. She’s just got her eye sight back so things are blurry and not clearly defined, which all works for the atmosphere, and for the slightly out of focus view Mun has of the world. She doesn’t know to be scared because she can’t quite make out what’s going down, and in the first act of the movie is unaware that she is seeing things others can’t.

The Pang Bros deliver a top quality movie that will have you rocking out to the scare tactics

Sure, we could all sit here and bitch and whinge about having seen the movie before. Eyes of Laura Mars (1978), The Sixth Sense (1999), and what looks to be a complete scene lifted from The Mothman Prophecies (2002), all look to be referenced. But the Pangs have something entirely different in their mixing bowl here, and the movie is much stronger than its individual parts.

The first act has Mun getting her eyesight back, and seeing things she doesn’t know to be scared about. Check the ghost in the hospital corridor, and it wasn’t the only thing getting cold around here. We then move onto Mun being aware of seeing what others can’t and the movie really ramps up the chill factor. The kid looking for his report card, the mother and daughter combo at the BBQ stand, and of course the chill scene to top them all, the chick at the calligraphy place; I wouldn’t even have been hanging around to explain what I was doing in her chair, this little black duck would have knocked children over as he exited stage left at warp factor nine. The final act goes in a completely new direction as Mun and Wah try to discover the underlying secret of Mun’s sight, and if you want to check how to construct a multi-angle, multi-person, yet closely defined scene then replay the road jam one. Full respect to the Pangs for the slow mo there, and the implication to Mun that is visualised in the concluding scene. No pun intended there.

One of the great aspects of this movie is how simply the Pangs construct things. A kid climbing out of a high-rise window is filmed in an utterly simplistic fashion, and is all the more shocking for it. Mun’s nightmares, which turn out not to be what we think they are, as her room seems to morph into another room entirely. The ghost in the hospital corridor, only a few angles and some rapid cuts used. The list is endless as the Pangs dispense with the special effects by and largely and wring every ounce of tension they can out of some clever use of light, sound, and camera angles.

It’s the Pangs ability to symbolise through the movie, keep the plot flowing throughout, and tie in a mystery you want to solve which will keep you watching even at those points you really don’t want too. Masterful achievement, and an above average movie in this genre results.

Angelica Lee (Mun) is outstanding in this movie, all aspects of her character are covered and you will get right in behind her performance. Lawrence Chou (Wah), while looking slightly young for the role, is also rolling out a great show for us to dig on into. He goes from non-believer to believer without dropping the ball, and oozes the relationship build-up with Lee. There’s some sparks flying there, even though they are more background than a complete focus.

Backing up, Yut Lai So (Yingying) isn’t backing off in the face of the adults, and her performance is both professional and right on the money. I was digging this character, kind of knew what was coming, but got the requirement to hit one of the major themes of the movie. And finally Chutcha Rujinanon was bringing home the bacon with limited screen time.

If after T&A this isn’t the movie for you. The movie doesn’t need it, so no one bothers bringing anything to the table.

Oxide Pang delivered the score, and it’s pretty much matching and enhancing the visuals during the movie. Oxide ramps it up aggressively for the “ghosts” scenes but calms down during other parts of the movie. Possibly not a CD purchase, but it’s working for this movie.

I was rocking with this movie, finally a horror flick that dispenses with the bullshit and gets down and dirty with scaring the panties off its audience. Guess the tight construction, plotline that actually goes somewhere, and non-reliance on gore to bludgeon the audience into submission were the things that were working over my end of the sofa. The Eye is an experience and a half, and shows what can be done in the genre when moviemakers actually think to themselves “I’m making a motion picture here”.

On the bad news front, Tom Cruise’s production company have picked up the North American rights to the concept, so get ready for a CGI crap fest in due course. Timmy you have missed out on the rush to remake Asian horror flicks, mainly because the remakes have been getting steadily worse, and audiences wont buy into them anymore. The core horror market remains sophisticated enough to understand the originals are far superior movies, and there’s not enough teeny boppers to ensure a hit with the PG13 lite stuff. Go make Top Gun: The Prequel or something instead.

For Australian readers, The Eye and the sequel The Eye 2 are available from www.easterneye.com.au, or from most reputable DVD stockists. I picked up my copy from JBL in Chatswood, who have a pretty good range of Asian movies under the Easterneye banner.

Simply put, The Eye is a horror movie which understands exactly what that means. Firstly it has to try and scare the audience rather than grossing them out, and secondly it has to work as an actual movie, with plot, themes, character development etc. The Pangs deliver on all fronts and this film is more than highly recommended, it’s one of those elusive must see movies in the dark genre. If you don’t think ghosts are scary any more, then let the Pang Bros re-educate you on that point.

ScaryMinds Rates this movie as ...

  The Pang Brothers deliver a ghost story that will have you high fiving dead people in your lounge room.