Unsettling and genuinely scary, the Pang brothers follow-up to Bangkok Dangerous is no pale Sixth Sense imitation…
The Pang Brothers first film, Bangkok Dangerous, set the standard pretty high. With so much to live up to this certainly doesn’t disappoint!
Blinded since the age of two, Mun (Lee Sin-je) receives a successful operation to restore her sight. But as she tries to make sense of the blurred images around her, she becomes aware that there is more to her new found gift. Mun can see into a world that passes the rest of us by - of restless ghosts and more mysteriously the grey figures that take the dead away. Before too long this world becomes impossible to escape from, and she longs for the time she didn’t see anything at all. Only her psychiatrist Dr. Lo (Lawrence Chou), cousin to the Doctor who performed the operation, will believe her.
Their journey to find the truth takes them to a village in Northern Thailand, where the original owner of the corneas had been ostracised because of her abilities. Unable to make anyone listen to a major disaster she could see happening, she had taken her own life. But what will happen to Mun when she faces the same occurrence?
The strength of The Eye lies in how it builds atmosphere to nearly unbearable levels. A spine chilling soundtrack combines with some truly disturbing imagery: the mother holding her child licking the window of the restaurant where her living husband works; the disgruntled student; the schoolboy who doesn’t realised he’s just been run over. The incidents happen with more and more frequency until the lift scene where both Mun and we the audience anxiously wait for her to reach her floor, whilst the ghostly presence slowly moves towards her.
Obvious comparisons to The Sixth Sense are left far behind - instead the film has more in common with The Ring (the original version) and even the atmosphere of The Shinning. As with Bangkok Dangerous, the film uses references from other movies but creates something purely unique with them, pulling no punches in the scare department.
The Pang brothers have created one of the best horror films in a long time… Just don’t see it alone!
DVD details
Distributor:Panorama (Hong Kong)
Minor defects, but overall an excellent transfer and, just as importantly, excellent sound quality - keeping all the erie effect of Oxide Pang's work on the soundtrack.
