Directors: David Moreau, Xavier Palud
After reading a few scathing reviews of "The Eye," I didn't have particularly high expectations of it. As a remake of an Asian horror film I thought it would be something akin to "The Ring," which was absolutely miserable.
The film surprised me. It was far from the standard horror movie and avoids many of the traps which have, in my opinion, made the genre something of a joke over the past few years.
Rather than trying to develop a new concept badly, this movie focuses more on character development and interesting plot twists.
The "horror" bits of the film weren't intellectually scary; they were rather of the sort that gave me a momentary jolt as some spooky figure appears out of nowhere. Kudos to the directors for not falling back on the gratuitous, sickening, gore which mars so many horror films.
The plot managed to keep me interested and entertained throughout the full 97 minutes but the more I thought about it afterwards the more idiotic it seems.
Sydney Wells (Jessica Alba) is a professional musician who has been blind since the age of five. At her sister's behest, she gets an eye transplant from an unidentified donor.
It soon becomes apparent that she can see things 's and for some odd reason hear things 's that other people can't, specifically, she can see the souls of dying people in the past, present and future being led into the afterlife.
Dr. Paul Faulkner (Alessandro Nivola), Sydney's psychiatrist, tries to convince her that the visions are just her brain's way of coping with regaining her sight. Sydney dismisses the notion that it is all in her mind and embarks on a quest to discover why her now-deceased eye donor has possessed her senses and what the tormented soul wants her to do to make things right.
Cheesy though it is, the directors manage to somehow balance the movie in just the right way so that its weaknesses aren't too overwhelming. Jessica Alba is really the film's saving grace, however, as her believable performance makes it possible to overlook some of "The Eye's" glaring blind-spots.
Opens March 21 in Estonia and May 9 in Lithuania.
Now showing in Latvia
