A triumph of style and substance...told with such style and skill
The Eye (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:100
Fresh:64
Rotten:36
Average Rating:6.1/10
Consensus: Conventional ghost tale with a few genuine scares.
Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Synopsis: THE EYE, directed by twin brothers Danny and Oxide Pang, is a Chinese/Thai horror film that focuses on Mun (Sin-je Lee), a cornea-transplant recipient who has been blind most of her life. As Mun... THE EYE, directed by twin brothers Danny and Oxide Pang, is a Chinese/Thai horror film that focuses on Mun (Sin-je Lee), a cornea-transplant recipient who has been blind most of her life. As Mun adjusts to her newfound sight, she begins to see haunting visions of dead people. As these terrifying visions become more frequent, Mun turns to a young psychiatrist, Dr. Wah (Lawrence Chou), for help. Eventually the two track the identity of the deceased eye donor to Thailand, and there the mystery is finally brought to light. With THE EYE, the Pang brothers enter the increasingly populated subgenre of contemporary Asian horror. Drawing on the visual language of recent Japanese films such as RING and PULSE, as well as Hollywood films THE SIXTH SENSE and STIR OF ECHOES, this chilling tale implies more than it reveals, building a deep sense of dread, even from the opening credits. Although the "I-see-dead-people" plotline has been investigated numerous times, THE EYE manages to put a different lens on the idea through subtleties in the story and the charismatic performance of the radiant Sin-je Lee. Featuring scenes that will make all viewers wary of elevators, hospital recovery wards, and calligraphy, this film offers truly startling moments that will linger in the mind's eye for a long time. [More]
Starring: Sin-je Lee, Laurence Chou, Chutcha Rujinanon, Candy Lo
Starring: Sin-je Lee, Laurence Chou, Chutcha Rujinanon, Candy Lo, Edmund Chen, Pierre Png
Director: Danny Pang, Oxide Pang
Director: Danny Pang, Oxide Pang
Screenwriter: Jo Jo Hui Yuet Chun, Danny Pang, Oxide Pang
Producer: Lawrence Cheng
Composer: Orange Music
Studio: Palm Pictures
Reviews for The Eye
What could merely be another cross-cultural re-up of The Sixth Sense takes on terrifying full embodiment in this disquieting, artful, pleasingly uncomfortable psychological thriller.
Anjelica Lee delivers a superb performance with a richly expressive face that conveys Mun’s journey from delight to despair. . .
Seeing is definitely worth believing in the Hong Kong supernatural thriller The Eye. Quite imaginative and cerebrally challenging for a spookfest narrative...never blinks when it comes to its inherent hair-raising high jinks.
It's unabashedly derivative and spooky enough to keep you up at night.
Though mythology and motivation might not withstand excessive scrutiny, this film is an intelligent, creepy thrill.
Just how scary is it? Even the film's daytime confrontations are enough to cause a severe jolt, but one nocturnal sequence involving a moaning old woman could leave viewers shuddering for days.
Hong Kong brothers Oxide and Danny Pang manage to deliver real skin-prickling jolts.
Sin-Je experiences a range of emotion (denial, grief, understanding, terror) that is engrossing.
Ms. Lee, much more than a standard horror-movie shrieker, looks convincingly haunted by what she sees, and the Pangs' pictorial instinct is as sure as their shock-producing sense of timing.
This stylish ghost story owes a great deal to contemporary Japanese ghost movies in general and M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense (1999) in particular but weaves a creepy spell all its own.
[The Pangs'] sense of pacing is nicely arrhythmic, which makes the 'boo' moments all the more heart-thudding, but what's even more pleasurable are the pockets of quiet, those lacuna of low-frequency dread when nothing much happens.
As a horror movie, it packs one genuine scare after another, right up to the moment of its inconceivably ghastly end.
Genuinely scary, especially when it strays from its lame plot to orchestrate some beautifully chilling set pieces.
The Eye loses its effectiveness because of its repetition. Even if it's a well made horror movie, it is pretty predictable.
In their fluid, deliciously eerie imagery, the Pangs can make the sight of even a dish of sliced duck in a busy noodle shop seem as ominous as the chilling, blurry specters that only Mun can see.
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July 12, 2006:
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