Dir.
David Moreau, 2008, US, 98 mins
Cast: Jessica Alba, Alessandro Nivola, Parker Posey, Fernanda
Romero , Rachel Ticotin
Review by Matthew Rodgers
Following in the recent
terror-strewn trail of genuine frightener The Orphanage
comes this latest pillaging of the J-horror vault of increasingly
repetitive shockers, this time its Danny and Oxide Pang’s
The Eye seen through the skewered vision of Hollywood moneymen,
after a quick fix.
Sydney (Alba – Fantastic Four)
is given the chance to see for the first time since childhood
through an operation straight from the hospital of 'cinema
make believe'. As her vision slowly returns, she realises
that not all is how she remembered it and as well as a
new world of blurry shapes and kaleidoscope colours, Sydney
can see supposedly scary phantasms taking people to their
doom.
You don’t need 20:20 vision to see that there are
numerous problems with this needless remake. The scares are
few and far between and of the “cat in a cupboard” variety
with the cardinal sin being the revelation of the ghosts
during the opening credits, thus removing any possible fear
factor or tension building from their subsequent appearances.
Add to that the fact that when they do pop up, they are barely
distinguishable CGI and all in the spooks are about as scary
as Casper.
Any set-pieces that worked in the
original are lost in translation – the
stand-out corridor scene in particular – and taken
on their own merits are little more than parlour tricks.
So it’s down to the stunning Miss Alba to make this
believable, something she fails to do on every level; whether
it’s the vapid voiceover “Oh I bet music looks
beautiful” or just the fact that she never convinces
as a blind woman (putting on glasses doesn’t class
as acting no matter how pretty the face). It’s perhaps
quite harsh on her as the lead role has very little meat
to chew on. Her co-stars are uniformly bland with Nivola
offering zero chemistry as her skeptical counselor/love interest.
The impressive overblown action finale
feels like it’s
from another movie and by the time the slight Omen vibe appears
during the latter stages, it's way too late to prevent the
boredom. It's almost enough to wish for a slight onset of
conjunctivitis.
See this if you liked:-The Grudge, The Ring 2 or Dark Water |
