May 17, 2004

{ The Eye - dvd }

It�s been a while since I�ve actually been scared by a film (that didn�t star Cuba Gooding Jr.), and I am hard pressed to recall one that chilled my blood as much as The Eye. The work of Hong Kong filmmakers the Pang Brothers, The Eye relies on subtle camera-work, a paranoia inducing soundtrack, and an engrossing visual style to instill a sense of panic and terror unmatched since the days of Hitchcock. Heavy praise, but this film warrants it. I won�t give anything away with an attempt at plot synopsis, you�re better off seeing this one blind and just letting its terrifying moments of revelation happen on their own. Or you could wait to see the inevitable US remake.... Asian horror films have been experiencing a burst of popularity stateside recently, and this flick has already been picked up by Hollywood for a Great American Makeover. I have my suspicions about how effectively the film can be transferred from one culture to another, so much of The Eye is rooted in China�s unique history and spiritual belief concerning the afterlife that a considerable amount of the film�s content would need to be altered. Unfortunately, that unique centricity to Chinese culture (and the requisite subtitles) may make the original a bit inaccessible to some Westerners, but it�s worth the suspension of culture-shock. Even if the remake dodges these cultural pitfalls, the real question will be whether Hollywood is capable of making a film that lives up to The Eye�s darkest moments of true horror- without hamming it up, throwing in unnecessary explosions or flat one-liners.

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By Adam in Film & TV | Comments:

Comments

dammiit adam, i've been pressured into writing something for the site lately, and there just hasn't been anything recently worthy of reviewing to me that hasn't already been done... except for this... then i thought, well, it is kind of an old movie and most people that want to see it have seen it already so maybe i can come up with something else... and then i thought, and adam never reviewed and if anyone could do it justice, it would be adam... but THEN i thought, well, since adam hasn't reviewed it yet, i'll go ahead and do it and AS SOON as i go to the site today to get to work, here it is.... but it's okay:) you can do it way more justice than i, but i just have to say this IS definitely the scariest, creepiest, most horrifyig movie and yet one of the BEST movies even outside of the horror genre, that i have EVER seen... EVER!!! i was terrified almost the whole way through and when i wasn't, i was bawling because it was so sad... many times i had to pause the film for a bit because i was either to creeped out and needed a breather or i was crying too hard to see what was happening... i hope if a remake IS made they don't hollywood it up, but you know they will... i hope it is left as is, one of the absolute best films i have ever seen...

Posted by: stacy at May 18, 2004 5:54 PM

Awwww! Sorry to snake that one out from under you. I actually had it written last week and I waited for a while to post it. I'm glad you threw some comments down, because I think you highlighted some aspects I didn't consider. Like the fact that this movie is completely emotionally involving and that it conveys the main charater's sense of shock and frustration so well that you (as the audience) start to feel it.

Posted by: adam at May 18, 2004 6:40 PM