Review: ‘The Eye’ Has Effective Jump Scares that do the Trick

An online list of the scariest movie scenes of all time brought me to the 2002 Hong Kong horror film “The Eye.” Written and directed by the ominous Pang Brothers, “The Eye” is a low budget foreign independent horror flick that was remade in Hollywood in 2008 (we’ll cover that next October). It may be a relative unknown to non-cinephiles, but is worth checking out if provided the opportunity.

The story is a somewhat trope of horror tales. Blind since early childhood, classical violinist Mun (Angelica Lee) receives a cornea transplant, gifting her the sense of vision. Of course, things never go as planned and Mun quickly begins to see ghostly images and other supernatural visions courtesy of her newfound sight.

Mun has limited vision in the immediate aftermath of the surgery, and we the audience gets to experience her world through blurry vision and lights. Watching her react to her own reflection in a mirror for the first time in decades is a natural scene, and Angelica Lee is easily the best actor in the production.

“The Eye” is a simple and succinct story, clocking in at 98 minutes, and while I found the second half and final act to be repetitive and boring, the film still manages to do something most other horror movies fail to do – It scared me. The Pang Brothers do a masterful job of working atmosphere and sound to create a combination of (highly) effective and unexpected jump scares with overall tension and chilling imagery.

We the viewer know something is going on with her new eyes, as she encounters several chilling characters. One great display of cinematography depicts Mun waking up in the middle of the night and seeing her bedroom shift and change into an entirely different space. And the infamous ‘Elevator Scene’ which led me to the movie in the first place is a quick lesson in the way horror should be done. It fully earns its status on any top horror scenes list.

“The Eye” has its deficiencies for sure. The relationship between Mun and potential love interest Dr. Wah (Lawrence Chou) seems to come on a bit quick, and as mentioned before, by the time the final act gets rolling, the movie is stretching the bounds of keeping my attention. And while the subtitles aren’t overly bothersome, there are some moments when I found myself too busy reading to see what was happening, and vice versa.

“The Eye” is a decent horror movie that has some really great moments of fear that balance out a simple and somewhat dull conclusion.