Dir. Pang Brothers, 2004, Hong Kong/Thailand, 95 minutes
Cast:
Shu Qi, Eugenia Yuan, Jesdaporn Pholdee, Philip Kwok
The Pang brother's chilling 2002 film The Eye was a huge success in Hong Kong and received international acclaim at the peak of the Asian horror boom. While its subtle atmosphere and suspense-laden scares were reminiscent of the now classic Japanese films Ringu and The Grudge , the film managed to integrate these elements into a thrilling, effects-heavy roller-coaster of a story that puts the most extravagant Hollywood blockbusters to shame (naturally a re-make is planned for a 2006 release rumoured to be directed by Ringu 's Hideo Nakata). With Danny and Oxide Pang once again taking the helm The Eye 2 is one of the most eagerly awaited horror sequels of recent years.
After a failed suicide attempt Joey Cheng (Qi) discovers not only that she is pregnant, but also that she has gained the ability to see ghosts. As she struggles to comprehend her frequent visions of the dead, she notices that one spirit seems particularly interested in her unborn child. She soon discovers that the link between our world and the next is much stronger than she thought possible.
As in the first film the individual hauntings are drawn from known Asian ghost stories and these provide the film's strongest moments. The build-up and timing of these scenes is again a perfect marriage of chilling tension and innovative visual effects, but perhaps the best of the spirits are those that appear without warning in the background of otherwise naturalistic scenes. When combined, these moments create an atmosphere in which we are as unsure of what is real as the main character. Shu Qi (who also starred in the Hong Kong horror film Haunted Office , but is perhaps more familiar to Western audiences as Jason Statham's luggage in The Transporter ) is believable as a pregnant, haunted woman, who would rather not be pregnant or haunted, and delivers a performance reminiscent of Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby . While The Eye 2 shares many elements and themes with the Polanski classic what is most similar, and most effective, is the sense of one woman against the world - a lonely, trapped character with no one to turn to but herself.
Despite re-creating the visual power of the first film The Eye 2 runs into problems where the story is concerned. Part of this is due to the fact that the viewer becomes accustomed to seeing the ghosts much sooner than Joey does, and while her constant refusal to accept her condition may be realistic it soon becomes frustrating. However, while the film strives for realism in terms of Joey's reactions, the world around her stretches the boundaries of believability a little too often for it to be a minor criticism. None of the supporting characters truly respond to her neurotic condition and it becomes inconceivable by the end that this woman could, even if she were allowed, look after a baby. While most films manage to survive with a suspension of disbelief, the reason The Eye 2 does not is perhaps due to the story itself. Although the theme of spirituality in relation to child-birth is interesting enough, the story used to explore this theme is too weak to carry us through to the end and the result is a feature that could easily have been a short segment in another film.
Where The Eye 2 excels is in the visual genius of the Pang brothers and fans of their previous work (their directorial collaboration on the 1999 film Bangkok Dangerous , as well as their individual efforts - Danny edited the acclaimed Infernal Affairs trilogy and Oxide directed One Take Only and more recently The Tesseract ) will not be disappointed. There are enough scares here for the most hardened horror fan and a story that if not fulfilling its potential is at least accessible and coherent. As a sequel the film manages to successfully build on the franchise and, if the rumours are true, there could well be a third Eye film on the horizon.
Chris Regan
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