Gin Gwai [The Eye] (2002)

(On DVD, May 2007) Argh! The hype, the hype! After hearing so much about this film, here I find myself considerably disappointed. As with so many horror film, The Eye‘s first act is very promising: As a young girl undergoes a cornea transplant to regain sight, she starts seeing things that we, as sighted viewers, know aren’t normal. A bunch of utterly chilling scenes do much to crank the tension as she gets to see death in action. But then the film stumbles during its development, as the explanation it offers for the supernatural events end up being less than the sum of all chills. That would be bad enough, but then the film tackles on an extra act filled with CGI catastrophe and a detour into supernatural disaster. It really betrays the beginning the film, and paints over our initial chills with a generous coating of slick film-making seemingly inspired by action movies. Not quite what the film initially promised, and that’s too bad. Maybe that also accounts for the film’s good reputation: What if everyone remembered the first thirty minutes and forgot the rest?