Available on DVD Tuesday, June 3rd
Cast:
Jessica Alba as Sydney Wells
Alessandro Nivola as Dr. Paul Faulkner
Parker Posey as Helen Wells
Rade Serbedzija as Simon McCullough
Fernanda Romero as Ana Christina Martinez
Rachel Ticotin as Rosa Martinez
Obba Babatundé as Dr. Haskins
Danny Mora as Miguel
Chloe Moretz as Alicia Millstone
Brett Haworth as Shadowman
Kevin K. as Tomi Cheung
Tamlyn Tomita as Mrs. Cheung
Esodi Geiger as Nurse
Directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud
Movie:
Ever since Gore Verbinski introduced America to The Ring, Hollywood cannot seem to get enough of Asian horror remakes. The Grudge, Dark Water, and One Missed Call are all Japanese examples this trend. Likewise, The Eye is a remake of The Pang Brothers’ Jian gui, but to call the film just another Japanese horror rip-off would be completely unfair for the following reason: it is actually a Chinese horror rip-off. Beyond that, it fails for exactly the same reasons as all the Japanese remakes. The scares are cheap, the story is recycled, and the film brings nothing new to the genre. Still, it is not a complete loss thanks to an interesting concept and a few memorable moments.
Sydney Wells (Jessica Alba) lost her eyesight when she was five years old. Despite twenty years of blindness, she has made a successful life for herself as a concert violinist. After undergoing corneal transplantation, Sydney slowly re-gains her sense of vision, but not without consequences. She begins to see shadowy figures and is haunted by ghosts of the deceased. Her doctor (Alessandro Nivola) tries to convince her that her mind is simply playing tricks as it adjusts to a newfound sense of vision, but Sydney knows better. She soon realizes that her visions are actually memories of her cornea donor, who evidently could see dead people. So she sets out to uncover the story behind the person from whom she inherited these cursed eyes.
Alba makes for a likable lead, and she clearly did her homework in order to accurately portray a blind woman. Nivola, on the other hand, is wooden and overacts through much of the film. His doctor character is also pretty unnecessary, doing little else but yell at Sydney and tell her the visions are not real. He was clearly included for two purposes: 1) eye candy for the ladies and 2) so Sydney would not be alone on her quest to find her cornea donor. The latter function would have been better served by Sydney’s sister Helen, portrayed by Parker Posey in the movie. The indie film darling is wasted here. Helen, who blames herself for Sydney going blind, is the logical choice of moral support for the protagonist, but alas, it went to the dull doctor.
In addition to psychic visions and contact with the dead, the script suggests the existence of a hypothesis known as cellular memory. Some people believe that a person’s memories, interests, etc. can be stored in all the cells, not just the brain, and thus can be transferred to an organ recipient. Real cases have been reported of organ recipients inheriting the tastes or habits of their organ donor. This film suggests that Sydney inherited her cornea donor’s memories and supernatural gift in the same manner. It is a far-fetched but nonetheless intriguing concept.
So, is it scary? The Eye does have a pervasive feeling of eeriness, but unfortunately it offers nothing we have not already seen in better films. It also relies too heavily upon cheap jump-scares accompanied by a loud piano chord. However, there is one noteworthy scare involving an elevator that manages to build tension and imply horror rather than make you jump. It is pretty damn creepy. Directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud also use Sydney’s blurred post-surgery vision to their advantage. It is very frustrating – and scary – to know something is there, but not be able to focus and see exactly what it is. We rely so heavily on our sense of vision, so blindness naturally lends itself to vulnerability and fear. The film needed more of that and fewer cheap scares.
With its concept and moody look, The Eye had potential, but it simply fails to be original and stand out from the rest. Sydney sees dead people? The Sixth Sense did it first, and with a solid, believable story. She can see death before it happens? Sounds like Final Destination. There is even a 1994 film called Blink about a young violinist who, after 20 years of blindness, gets her vision surgically restored and starts to see things. The word âcoincidence’ can only be stretched so far. Too much of this movie is the recycled leftover of better thrillers.
Extras:
Firstly, the marketing of this set is misleading. The term “2-Disc Special Edition” typically implies one movie disc and one special features disc. On the contrary, The Eye‘s 2-Disc Special Edition is one disc with the movie and a few short featurettes, and one disc with a digital copy of the film. In other words, it is exactly like a normal single-disc DVD. Without even so much as a commentary, there is very little that is special about this “special” edition.
Deleted Scenes: Includes two or three decent scenes, including a blood-soaked hospital hallway crawling with ghosts and a gory screaming guy in a recording booth. Neither is anything remarkable, but they were still pretty creepy.
Another scene that probably should have stayed in the film involved the parents of a boy whose ghost Sydney persistently sees. The scene itself is kind of boring but sheds light on other scenes in the film. And bonus: it has Francois Chau aka Marvin Candle aka the creepy orientation video guy from Lost. All the other deleted scenes are worthless filler (Sydney taking cognitive tests) or lame scares (boring Ring-like ghost in a violin shop).
Birth of the Shadowman: The best featurette on the disc, but that does not say much. It also happens to be the shortest, clocking in at less than two minutes. It briefly discusses the shadowy Death-like figures that Sydney constantly sees in her visions. I was surprised to learn the figures are played by actor/animator Brett Haworth, a freakishly thin creepy guy. With FX makeup on, he looks absolutely terrifying and it is a tragedy that none of this is seen in the film. Instead, the film has a black blur that looks like it is purely computer-generated. It is such a shame that the CGI obscures the look of the actor and the makeup, as they are creepy as hell. Furthermore, the featurette includes nothing about the makeup or the CG process.
Becoming Sydney: This five-minute featurette shows some of Alba’s preparation for the role, including violin lessons and blindness simulation. There are interviews with the actress, her violin instructor, and a consultant from the New Mexico Commission for the Blind who aided Alba in her training. This featurette is only really interesting to fans of Ms. Alba.
Shadow World: Seeing the Dead: The longest featurette (nine minutes), this one explores cellular memory and the supernatural world. There are interviews with authors on these subjects, a parapsychologist, Alba, Nivola, and executive producer Darren Miller. There are some interesting tidbits if you are interested in ghosts or the cellular memory hypothesis.
The Eye: An Explosive Finale: This featurette is entirely about the finale of the movie so do not watch it before seeing the film! It shows the second-unit crew and the FX team working on the big climax. We see some of how the set was designed and how the stunt team coordinated the pyrotechnics-heavy scene. At just six minutes, it hardly goes into any detail. It includes various interviews with FX crewmen and shows raw footage of an explosion (pre-CGI).
Also from Lions Gate: Includes trailers for Midnight Meat Train, The Eye 2, Catacombs, and The Descent.
