The Eye (2002)

A blind girl gets a cornea transplant so that she would be able to see again. However, she got more than what she bargained for when she realized she could even see ghosts.

Directors:

Danny Pang (as Pang Brothers), Oxide Chun Pang (as Pang Brothers)

Writers:

Yuet-Jan Hui (as Jojo Hui), Danny Pang (as Pang Brothers)

Stars:

Angelica Lee, Chutcha Rujinanon, Lawrence Chou

9 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Angelica Lee	...	Wong Kar Mun (as Lee Sin-Je)
Lawrence Chou	...	Dr. Wah
Jinda Duangtoy	...	Old Lady in the Hospital
Yut Lai So	...	Yingying
Candy Lo	...	Yee (Mun's Sister)
Edmund Chen	...	Dr. Lo
Yin Ping Ko	...	Mun's grandmother
Florence Wu	...	Nurse
Wisarup Annuar	...	Dark Figure
Yuet Siu Wong	...	Ghost in the Hospital
Wing-Wai Chin	...	Hospital Caretaker
Tao Leung	...	Ghost on the Highway
Mylio Lau	...	Wah's Secretary (as Miyuki Lau)
Ousinthorn Chotphan	...	Mun as a Little Girl
Dampongongtrakul Sawadee	...	Yee as a Little Girl

Storyline

A blind girl gets a cornea transplant so that she would be able to see again. However, she got more than what she bargained for when she realised she could even see ghosts. And some of these ghosts are down right unfriendly. So she embarks on a journey to find the origins of her cornea and to reveal the history of the previous dead owner ...

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Plot Keywords:

supernatural horror | ghost | eye | vision | blind girl | 

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Taglines:

Setsunai kyôfu [Japan]

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some disturbing images

Details

Official Sites:

Palm Pictures [United States]

Country:

Hong Kong Singapore

Language:

Cantonese Thai Mandarin English Hakka

Release Date:

9 May 2002 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Seeing Ghosts

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Box Office

Budget:

SGD4,500,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$512,049

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$12,165,016

Company Credits

Production Co:

Applause Pictures, Mediacorp Raintree Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min 110 min 94 min (DVD) 94 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The dark/black figure/person that constantly appears in the film when the characters die is the Daoist (Chinese religion) form of the Grim Reaper. In Daoist belief, there are two Grim Reapers, the White and Black "Wu Chang". The Black Reaper is the one that escorts the newly dead to the "other world" of "afterlife".

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Goofs

When Mun leaves the apartment and then crouches down to talk to the young boy about the report card, she is right beside the apartment door, but in the next shot, her Grandmother looks out of the peephole in the door. Mun is now suddenly right in front of the door, on the other side of the hallway.

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Quotes

Wong Kar Mun: Are you okay, madam?
Old Lady in the Hospital: I'm freezing...

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Crazy Credits

The credits at the beginning of the film first appear as braile.

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Connections

Remade as Naina (2005)

User Reviews

Another Excellent Alternative to Mainstream Cinema

There are already several comments left, but what the hey, I liked this movie and I'm gonna have my 10p worth.

Before I mention the movie itself, I'd better comment on modern Asian movies that reach Western shores, and the fact that they have different pacing, priorities and styles to what you would see at the cinema. The fact that a lot of people don't 'get' the parts of this film which seem to have no relevance is probably as much due to the difference in culture more than any wrongdoing on the production team's behalf. The same can be said for a lot of Hong Kong comedies, the 'humour' which would probably illicit a wry laugh back home flies miles over everybody else's head.

In that sort of circumstance, I've developed a good trick, I switch-off trying to figure out what all these little hints and gestures mean and concentrate on the character interactions and the scares. I've had a lot of practice, Western cinema in recent years has been guilty of 'rambling', and they've got no such excuse as 'cultural differences' ;)

Anyway, the movie! (good grief!), the plot's already been explained and probed, so I won't go into that. What this film has is a constant 'pressure', a claustrophobic atmosphere which persists regardless of the location. Clever camera work afoot! The palpable distance which the heroine feels from her family and the people around her (perhaps a symptom of not being able to communicate non-verbally with them so long? Perhaps not, but it's there) is always there too. You get the impression that she could be surrounded by a crowd and still walk alone from one side of a city to the other.

The smaller roles are played out very nicely, great acting considering the film concentrates almost solely on the two main characters.

The ending is a little bit of a let-down, predictable and not entirely 'working'. But, BUT, it isn't a catastrophe which ruins the film, which I'm sure you'll know what I mean. The ending of a film is what you're left with when you switch off the TV, and if it's bad, then so is the film.

This movie is the only one in recent years which actually gave me a start, and that's something. Real horror isn't about dripping guts and hooks with heads on them, it's about the unexpected, it's about being confronted with something terrifying, something which makes you wish the character was elsewhere. In order to achieve that, you need to give a damn about the character in the first place, which is where 90% of cheap horrors fall down. Not here, the characters are likable and have a little childlike innocence about them, you want to get in there and slap the more unpleasant visitors :P

All in all, I very much enjoyed watching this film, and intend to buy it when I find it for a pittance (almost all DVDs can be found for the right price at one time or another, shop around and ask people where they get their bargains). I would heartily recommend renting before buying, however. As several have mentioned already, there are several elements of this film which seem to have been deliberately copied from recent films such as Sixth Sense. If that prospect leaves a sour taste, I'd look elsewhere, but everyone else who hasn't had enough of all that yet should certainly have a look :D

Thanks for reading.