Asian Cinema Owns Me-The Eye (2002)

[Mr_Vindictive]

I cannot believe just how AMAZING Asian cinema has become.  They are spouting out fantastic films left and right.  Battle Royale, Dark Water, Versus, The Ring, and now The Eye.

I have been looking for a copy of The Eye for sometime now, and finally found a DVD copy at my local Blockbuster.  The DVD had no American track so the film was in Cantonese with American subtitles (love em).  

The story focuses around a young woman named Mun.  She has been blind since the age of two, and has recently had a corneal transplant.  After getting the replaced cornea, she is able to see again.  But now she can also see the dead.  

Now, anyone who reads that short synopsis will obviously think this is just an Asian rip off of The 6th Sense.  Sure this film takes a lot from American horror cinema:

Body Parts-Replaced body part, in this case the cornea.

The 6th Sense-Obvious due to the fact that she can see the dead

The Mothman Prophecies-Not going to say.  Will ruin the entire film.


With all of that out of the way, I want to say that this film scared the living hell out of me.  I don't think I've been so scared by a film in a long time.  Some of the encounters that Mun experiences are nightmarish in nature.  

The Pang brothers, who directed the film really knew what they were doing.  They used quick cuts and amazing beautiful off the wall shots to really bring in the whole nightmare feeling of the film.  There is a certain scene involving a dead body in an elevator with Mun that really showed off their talent (and nearly made me crap my pants).  

The only downside I saw to the film was the "mystery".  Of course one of the ghosts wants Mun to help her.  The mystery seemed to be solved too quickly, but it did add a lot of understand to the finale.

Overall this was a great film.  Scared the hell out of me and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout with it's quick pace.  Definently rent this film!

[Scott]

I've been wanting to see some Asian Cinema for a while now. I see that Japan has alot of interesting films and other things. I like the Asian Cinema Magazine also. Actually I think its calle Asian Cult Cinema Magazine.

[The Burgomaster]

I'm glad you wrote about THE EYE.  I saw it in Best Buy the other day and I almost bought it.  Now, I can buy it with confidence!

Have you seen AUDITION yet?  That's a pretty disturbing piece of Asian cinema.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Audition was on cable recently (Sundance or IFC I think).  Didn't get a chance to check it out though.


Maybe I will soon.

[Scott]

Off Topic :  I seen a neat film the other week on Sundance called MYSTERY TRAIN (1989). Good film. Steve Buscemi is even in it. The reason it reminds me of Japanise films is because of the Japenese couple in the first story of the film. It's directed by Jim Jarmusch who directed DEAD MAN and GHOST DOG.

[dean]

i love asian cinema.  any b movie fan has got to come across the multitude of shonky b-grade horror flicks from japan and hong kong that are absolutely fantastic.  i remember one film 'hypnosis' that kind of had a ring-like feel to it, and i loved it: it involved people killing themselves because of some reason [ a not too bad one] in really wierd ways.  one guy killed himself by running headfirst onto a coat hook.  cool

but there are plenty of other actual, credible [-ish] films out there such as the excellent young and dangerous series and police story [good ol jackie!] and of course shaolin soccer [buncha shaolin monks playing soccer makes for interesting viewing]

oh yeah, i also heard that there is some hong kong movie in the works, where hong kong has become really sorta militarised and everybody is reffered to by numbers, not names.  a friend was telling me this today but i unfortunately wasn't paying much attention, anyone know anything about this vague description of a movie?

[Mr_Vindictive]

You mentioned a Hong Kong horror flick about people commiting suicide.  Could it be Suicide Club???  I have a copy of it but have yet to watch it.  From your small descripiton it sounds like the same flick.

[Scott]

Just rented THE EYE (2002) - Good Asian film made on Hong Kong with subtitles. Girl get eye transplant and can see the future and the dead. Quite creepy. Tom Cruise's production company has bought the rights for an American version.

[Scott]

THE EYE rates almost up there with THE RING. The girl see's the shadow people coming for those about to die. (not actually seeing the future.)

[yaddo42]

I rented "Mystery Train" not too long ago. The Japanese tourist couple were interesting, but my favorite parts involved singer Screamin' Jay Hawkins as the hotel night clerk. I'm a fan of his music anyway, but he stole the scenes he was in.

I second watching "Audition", truly a creepy film. And I hope they have "The Eye" for rent at my local Hollywood Video, I wasn't ready to take the plunge and buy it at Best Buy the other day, I was mostly in an anime mood.

[Anon E. Mouse]

I know the writer they've hired to adapt the film, Ryne Pearson.  

He mentioned that the elevator scene is what creeped him out most.  He plans on expanding those types of scares.  So get excited!  It should be a better adaptation than The Ring, though that turned out decent.

[Kory]

I saw The Eye earlier this week- I loved it too and I will definitely be buying it to go with Ringu!

One thing I love about asian cinema is their lack of Hollywood-esque features.  Take Ringu vs The Ring:

Hollywood felt it necessary to add a love story.  In Ringu, the ex's never showed any intention of getting back together, they just happened to share a son and were able to work together on a mystery.  When I saw the RIng I expected, and got, a whole "will they or wont they get back together" story.  It was just stupid.

Need for more gore: The electrocution scene in The Ring.  First of all, the whole 'horse' storyline in the Ring was dumb.  The scene where her father electrocuted himself was unnecessary.  Don't get me wrong, I don't mind gory movies- that scene wasn't even bloody or anything.  It just seemed like showing the faces of the victims wasn't enough.  Hollywood has to have some sort of violence.

Another thing with asian cinema- foreign films in general- is that they don't necessarily use the prettiest actors.  Has anyone seen the original "Insomnia" from Sweden, then the american one?  Once again, unnecessary love story and the role of the female detective was completely blown up for no reason.

Sorry I rambled...

[Mr_Vindictive]

Kory, I agree 100% about Insomnia.  Stellan SkarsgÃ¥rd was fantastic in that film, and as you said not pretty actors in it.

[Lux]

Somehow Japanese directors can make it happen with just a fraction of the usual hollywood budget. Be sure to check "the Grudge", "Kaïro" or "Ichi the Killer" those are all movies with a small budget in comparason with standard US productions, yet they make you really shiver and are directed with a lot of style and intelligence

[dean]

"You mentioned a Hong Kong horror flick about people commiting suicide. Could it be Suicide Club??? I have a copy of it but have yet to watch it. From your small descripiton it sounds like the same flick."

nah sorry skaboi, it wasn't suicide club.  it was a film called hypnosis which basically dealt with the victims being hypnotised into reacting to the sound of metal pinging by killing themselves.

btw one film i need to see is "infernal affairs" kind of like a face off type movie, with a police officer going undercover into a triad to take them down, and a triad member doing the same in the police force.  the twist [i guess] is both get caught into the lifestyle and want to stay in their new positions.  or so i've heard.  it broke a bunch of box office records in asia.  sounds good

and also it's not 'hollywoodised.'  i say this because apparently the two characters have really nothing to do with each other, and there isn't that relationship between cage and travolta that was needed in face off [though it was a good film]

 i guess what's good about asian cinema therefore is that it's straight to the point and doesn't worry about some uneeded extras like a love story in a horror film: they just focus on the horror.

although i have to say there is a disturbing trend in hong kong cinema for the actors also being pop singers.  it seems to work fine over there but just look at the track record we have here: britney, madonna, bon jovi, mariah carey and who could forget j-lo!