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:

What if the reflection you see is not yours

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Genres:

Drama | 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:

SGD 4,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$39,058, 8 June 2003, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$503,714, 9 November 2003

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 beginning (the operation for a blind girl to see again) and the end of the film are based on true stories the Pang brothers read about in the news.

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Goofs

When Mun hears the moaning woman in the hospital, as she investigates, the position of the straps on the shoulder of her scrub changes.

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Quotes

[repeated line]
Boy with Cap: Have you seen my report card?

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Crazy Credits

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

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Connections

Referenced in Deadly Visions (2004)

User Reviews

Not so much a Scare Fest than a decent thriller

About three months ago, I was paging through cable and found a film that looked intriguing. After watching for about five minutes I had the pants scared off of me, so, being the complete wuss I am, I turned it off. Curiosity made me want to go back to it, of course, so about twenty minutes later I got up the guts to turn it back on. After about two minutes, I was full on terrified, and turned it off for good. I told some friends about this film, and all seemed intrigued, mainly because of the scare factor, so this weekend we got around to finally watching it. That movie of course, was the Pang Brothers' "The Eye", a film that ended up being something completely different than what I was expecting.

In "The Eye", Wong Kar Mun (Lee) is a young blind woman who gets a corneal transplant. Soon after her operation, as her eyes are adjusting, she begins to see some pretty scary images; shadowy black figures hanging around people who later die, dead people themselves, and her room keeps doing a pesky trick where it changes on her as she's looking at it, furniture and all. Her doctor, Dr. Lo (a really young looking Edmund Chen) doesn't believe her at first, but then realizes that there may be some merit to her claims, so they go in search of the donor in order to find out what history her eyes' previous owner had, and what kind of baggage Wong Kar Mun has to deal with now.

Based on my first impressions of the film, I was actually expecting a big scare fest like "The Grudge"; short on story, big on scares. What I actually realized is that the two parts that I briefly watched were actually two out of the three genuinely scary parts of the film. (The elevator scene was enough to make me take the stairs today at work, seriously.) The rest of the film is certifiably creepy, but there is actually a decent story to support those creepy parts. "The Eye" has no doubt been compared to "The Sixth Sense" in terms of theme, but it is also similar in substance as well. Even without the scares, the film would be able to stand on its other merits. Some of the special effects in "The Eye" were kind of cheesy (basically Sci-Fi channel made-for-cable television caliber) and in typical Chinese film fashion, the music was horrible, but all told, it is a decent film.

After doing a little reading on the film, I saw that Tom Cruise's production company bought the rights to the film and are planning a remake. I'm not very educated on Asian horror films and their American remakes, (yet) but I think I would see it just out of mere curiosity, because I would imagine that they would take this relatively small film and mess with it to make it "bigger". "The Eye" is definitely worth checking out because while it definitely scared the pants off of me a couple of times, the rest of the film was really was worth sticking around to see how it all would end. 6/10 --Shelly