The Eye

The Eye (2008)



Status:
Second Time Offender

Directed By:
David Moreau
Xavier Palud

Starring:
Jessica Alba
Parker Posey
Alessandro Nivola
Rade Serbedzija
Chloe Moretz

Favorite Character:
Alicia

Plot Summary:
Nothing quite sets the tone of a flick when the opening scene is a bunch of kids throwing rocks and screaming bruja at an obviously tortured girl whose apparently at the end of her rope...well, about to be anyway. (Yeah, I just went there...you're welcome!) Throw in some wanna-be creepy ass CGI specter and you've got a damn good intro to your film...that's sarcasm if you can't tell.

Next we meet Sydney. She's a blind, 20-something classical violinist whose getting ready to have a corneal transplant surgery. Our introduction to her is sickeningly sweet. Despite the fact that she's blind her life seems to be pretty great and we're left with the impression that this surgery will just be the icing on her cake life. Too bad she's a character in a horror movie and not a Lifetime made-for-TV feel good dramedy (she got SCREWED!).

Her surgery goes smashingly well medically speaking and while she's recovering she meets a young cancer patient named Alicia whom she becomes close to (they're gonna be BFF's...well, BFFAB's (that's Best Friends For A Bit)) while she's in the hospital recovering. Freaky shit starts happening to her almost immediately and what was supposed to be a blessing quickly becomes a curse (DUN DUN DUN).

Visions of dead people (SHE SEE'S DEAD PEOPLE, bahahahahahahaaaaaa!), places she's never been, and things that just aren't there make her realize that all isn't right in the world. Her new visual therapist thinks she's schizoid, and chocks her visions up to her being KUH-RAZY!

She manages to convince him she's not (with a little sexual healing - haha, just kidding!) and they decide to play Nancy Drew, (or would it be the Hardy Boys even though one of them isn't a boy?), and they take a little trip, take a little trip, take a little trip and see...they take a little trip, take a little trip, take a little trip and solve a mystery which leads to a semi-satisfying, if not slightly anti-climactic, conclusion.

Favorite Quote(s):
Sydney: I can smell the rain before it drops, but I can't watch it fall. I can feel the sun on my face, but I can't see it rise or set. I want to see the world like everyone else, to see the sun, the rain, the music. Oh I bet music looks beautiful.

Favorite Scene:
The scene at the Mexico/US Border.

Review:
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that I haven't seen the original of this film either and why am I watching movies I've never seen the originals of - blah, blah, blah - but you'd be wrong. The original was actually one of the first films I rented when I started working at Video Maniacs way back when and it's also one of my favorite foreign films.

This remake, however, is not. And that does not mean that I hate it, I actually like it for the most part, it just...it loses something in translation. I think my biggest complaint is that it doesn't feel all that suspenseful or menacing. The specter's were pretty ridiculous looking and Jessica Alba just didn't really seem all that convincing in her role. Half of the time she looked confused and the other half of the time her feel didn't seem that genuine. If you're going to take a role in a horror film you should be able to convince people that you are terrified for your life or that you have actually been traumatized, and she can't convincingly pull off either.

If you're looking for a creepy ghost movie, there are much better flicks than this one. If you like Jessica Alba or you've actually seen the first film and are interested in seeing how it compares then go ahead and give it a watch. It's not a bad movie as movies go, just don't expect something remotely spooky or terrifying or all that convincing.

Interesting Fact:
This film, just as the original version did, takes its source material from a real event – that of a young woman who committed suicide shortly after undergoing a cornea transplant who seemed to be living a perfectly normal and healthy life.

Rating:


Trailer: