The Eye 2

Typical Pang Brothers: inventive camera-work, thoughtful sound design, well constructed scenes, a few jolts, and a story line that mixes fantasy, flashbacks, hallucinations and dreams with some present tense reality and impossible events (like jumping pregnant off a building roof and ending up with only a few scratches and a healthy baby. Call it a script.

No secret, I guess, that the Pang Brothers have their own personal logic and/or they can't be bothered with cohesiveness to their stories as long as there's a general thrust of somebody doing something questionable so the scaries can come after them until they fess up in an ambiguous way. I don't care. They do everything else well enough for me to enjoy their films.

Big pleasant surprise was anorexic super-model Shu Qi nailed her part. She was beautiful and convincing.

There is no reason for this film to be called EYE 2 except for capitalizing on the success of the original EYE which dealt specifically with a blind person getting an eye transplant from ... drum roll please ... someone who didn't die right--the basis of most Asian horror--so they haunt until a remedy is found.

I'm pretty sure Shu Qi had 20/20 vision in this movie, but she was messing around with a married guy, causing the wife to commit suicide (didn't die right), comb her hair over her face like a good Asian horror girl should so she can effectively haunt the nasty mistress who is pregnant with her cheating husband's child.

The MIA husband of some other pregnant girl also haunts our heroine for some reason. I dunno.

They don't show it but at one point Shu Qi practically bites the face off some other guy. That was fun to think about.

Plot-wise, this isn't a direct sequel to "The Eye". It has a completely new storyline, characters, etc. It is AMAZING. The storyline is wonderful, the actors are great and it's beautifully directed. It is A MUST-SEE for anyone that enjoys horror with depth.

This really dips into some of the culture in Asia. a great sequel from the first and yet not an atypical sequel....you gotta love it!!!

My review of "THE EYE 2," refers to the Region 4 import from Cinema East. While I believe that the first of "THE EYE" trilogy films from the Pang Brothers was great, this one is a let down. It felt more like a TV DRAMA which incorporated a few scare scenes in the film. Everything which made the first film great is missing from this one: The nuance of horror, and the suggestion of terror. If you are looking for a film that moves along similar lines as this film, I would suggest the film "INNER SENSES" which was the last film by Leslie Cheung, prior to his suicide in 2003. That is a great film, and highly recommended. The narrative for me in this film did not flow as smoothly as the first film. And while it is difficult to carry this through with a follow up film, and I also realize that this film is NOT a sequel, it still left me empty and wanting.

Sure, there is the occasional scene or two that were a bit unsettling. But this does not make up for the film as a whole. Moreover, even though it is not a sequel to the first film, I believe that this film never measured up as a good horror film to begin with. [Very few ever do]. And part of this had to do with the fright aspect of the film. What frightens you? What is it about a horror film that unsettles you while you watch it? Hopefully not the gore? And certainly not the scenes that jump right out at you? If so, then maybe this film is for you. For me, it is the subtle nuance of horror, and more importantly, the suggestion of horror. The way a films narrative explores an area that triggers your brain with a fright that is unsettling. Something that puts you on the edge of your seat. That element of horror you never see coming---and then the film hooks you right in. This usually occurs in the beginning of a horror film, and then carries on to the middle and then surprising you in the ending. This film had none of these elements.

The film itself centers on a pregnant woman named Joey (Shu Qi). After attempting suicide, she begins to see ghosts. Later she goes to a Buddhist monk who tells her that she is seeing these ghosts due to Karma. Moreover, he tells her that two experiences lead one to see the spirit world. The birth of a child, and more importantly, if a person has a near death experience. Since she survived her suicide, and was near death, she tries to rid herself of these ghosts--or ghost. She has an ex-lover named Sam (Tik Jesadaporn Pholdee) who has a strong connection to what Joey is now going through. And I do not wish to spoil this for you. There are better Asian horror films out there. And while this one is better than a lot I have seen, it's still not that good. I would recommend that you rent the DVD prior to buying the film. It appears a lot of people like this film. Therefore, I recommend it with caution, and advise viewers to rent it first [Stars: 2.5]

The Eye 2 (Oxide and Danny Pang, 2004)

The Pang Brothers return with what is ostensibly a sequel to their breakout hit The Eye. Whoever decided to market this as a sequel, however, really messed up. Taken as a film independent of its far superior older brother, this might well have been a lot better received than it ultimately was. This is not to say there's nothing other than marketing wrong with it, but that would have gone a long way towards making it a better experience.

The plot: Joey (Millennium Mambo beauty Shu Qi) is pregnant by her former boyfriend, and doesn't know what to do about it. She attempts suicide and, after failing, she begins to see ghosts. These ghosts seem to have a thing for hanging around pregnant women...

It's not a bad little story, for what it is, and the ending (which you can probably see coming a mile away) is positively heartwarming, if you're into that sort of thing. The problem is that what could have been an interesting drama with some supernatural aspects (see, for example, the fantastic The Uninvited) is relentlessly approached as a horror film, complete with utterly gratuitous shock scenes, that are way out of kilter with the basic storyline. When I have to bend my mind in directions it doesn't normally stretch to figure out how a scene fits into an otherwise straightforward movie, I'm working too hard to be enjoying it.

It doesn't bear comparison with the original film, but the movie's connections opened the door when they decided to make it a sequel. Simply put, aside from the remarkable directorial powers of Oxide and Danny, which infuse the film with the usual ambiance one finds in a Pang movie, nothing about this movie is remotely in the same realm of excellence found throughout The Eye. The acting (with the exception of Shu Qi's) is pedestrian, the script is lackluster if sporadically inspired, the special effects are, well, often just there for the sake of having special effects. Not to deny some of the are pretty cool, but why are some of them there?

Worth seeing if you've nothing better to do, but you're better off renting the original and watching it again. ** ½