If you could only see three mainstream, mass-appeal Asian horror films, that list would have to include "Ju-On", "Ringu", and "The Eye", Danny and Oxide Pang's creepy, effective supernatural horror flick. While not gory in the slightest, it still manages to deliver the requisite shocks that we've come to expect from Asian horror films (and that, by and large, have been sorely missing from American horror films lately). Like "Ringu" and "Ju-On", "The Eye" relies more on carefully constructed atmosphere and frighteningly vague imagery than on traditional "boo" scares. As such, it's kind of a blend between "The Sixth Sense" and every body-part-transplant story ever put to film. Hey, I didn't say it was completely original!
The synopsis...
"The Eye" tells the story of a beautiful young woman named Wong Kar Mun (Angelica Lee appearing under the name "Lee Sin-je"). Mun has been blind since about the age of two, and now in her early twenties, she lives under the care of her grandmother and older sister. She has the opportunity to receive a corneal transplant, and snatches up the chance. The surgery is a success, it seems, as her eyesight is restored quite well. However, that silver lining has a distinct cloud attached to it in the form of strange ethereal visions that only Mun experiences. Before long, she begins to realize that she is seeing spirits...or more specifically, the transient souls of the dead, and more disturbingly, the soon-to-be dead. The spirits are invariably accompanied by a strange, shadowy, hooded figure, who seems to be escorting the spirits somewhere. Understandably, Mun thinks herself crazy at first, and seeks the help of a young psychiatrist named Dr. Wah (Lawrence Chou). At first, he chalks up Mun's visions to strange side-effects of her recent surgery, but soon, he too is a believer. Soon, Mun and the good Doctor are waist-deep in a mystery surrounding a dead young girl, who may or may not be the cause of Mun's curse. What is the cause of the visions? Who is the shadowy figure? Will Mun and Dr. Wah ever "hook up"? Will they ever get to the bottom of Mun's "curse"?
What we have here is a satisfyingly taut thriller/ghost story. If you've seen the aforementioned "Ringu" and "Ju-On", you pretty much know the kind of scares you're bound to get. However, what it lacks in complete originality, "The Eye" makes up for in pure style. The Pang brothers know how to use their medium, and they prove it in shot after shot. Don't think that it's all style over substance, though. There is a certain economy of filmmaking on display here. Scenes that could have been overwrought messes are delicately treated. The Pang's are skilled and smart enough to know when to let the subject matter speak for itself. Sure, there are, as some critics have noted, bombastic set pieces and sound effects, but these are used as punctuation. They all serve a purpose. Not a shot is wasted. Whenever the viewer is comfortable with a given set of circumstances, the Pang's pull the rug out from under them and toss another set of scares or plot complications at them. Honestly, I think it's a wonderful thing that the filmmakers were able to maintain such a high degree of tension and "pure mood" throughout the entire running time of "The Eye".
If I have one gripe about "The Eye", it's that for the vast majority of the running time, Mun (being our main protagonist) never seems to ever really be in any kind of true danger. Even (arguably) the scariest of spriritual manifestations (the much-lauded "elevator scene") are, while very scary and very effective, a bit lacking...if only because we never get the feeling that anything truly bad is going to happen to Mun. So, there's a mean old creepy lookin' ghost...well, that's pretty scary, but what's the ghost going to do? Is he just going to scare her? Mun's already scared, so what's left? Is he going to tell her she's about to be audited or something? "Ma'am, I'm here from the IRS...we need to talk about your tax return for fiscal year 2004...there seem to be some inconsistencies..." No, there's never any real threat, other than our heroine being creeped the fuck out. Still, this proves to be a small thing, as the final, climactic set piece puts Mun in quite enough danger for one movie, I suppose. Heh, heh, heh...
"The Eye" will, no doubt, prove to be as influential and important an entry into the Asian Horror arena as "Ringu". Everyone is jumping on the bandwagon, it seems, and not even "The Eye" is safe from Hollywoodification. Tom Cruise was reportedly so enamoured with "The Eye" that immediately after seeing it, he phoned his agents or whatever and bought the American remake rights for his very own production company. So, the remake (as of this writing) is in production. All I can say (while chocking back the bile) is that I hope the end product is better than the super crappy "Ring" and "Grudge" remakes, but I'm not holding out much hope. I digress...
This DVD release (brought to us by a weird combination of various media companies including Lion's Gate, Palm Pictures, Universal Entertainment Group, and Fortissimo Films) is quite nice, if a little lacking in the special features department. The 16x9 Widescreen transfer is sharp and clear throughout, and the 5.1 surround track is truly beautiful. Feature-wise, we have a fairly brief and elementary "making of" featurette, a trailer and tv spot...and that's about it. I hope that someday, someone releases a better Region 1 release of "The Eye", including a director's commentary, perhaps. That would be quite interesting to hear, I imagine. My guess is that just such a special edition will hit the market sometime around the theatrical release of the big-budget remake, but who knows.
"The Eye" has solidified its position as one of the most important Asian horror films. Highly recommended. The only other thing I can say is that hopefully, the Asian horror industry will not burn itself out any time soon. We've come to love it, and some of the best horror films of recent years have come out of the far east. Fingers crossed...
If you could only see three mainstream, mass-appeal Asian horror films, that list would have to include "Ju-On", "Ringu", and "The Eye", Danny and Oxide Pang's creepy, effective supernatural horror flick. While not gory in the slightest, it still manages to deliver the requisite shocks that we've come to expect from Asian horror films (and that, by and large, have been sorely missing from American horror films lately). Like "Ringu" and "Ju-On", "The Eye" relies more on carefully constructed atmosphere and frighteningly vague imagery than on traditional "boo" scares. As such, it's kind of a blend between "The Sixth Sense" and every body-part-transplant story ever put to film. Hey, I didn't say it was completely original!
